Intern Review

While not the in-person summer internship that was initially planned to go ahead, Visa did a great job at turning things around in spite of COVID-19, providing a fully online experience that still made the time feel worthwhile. There were a range of activities to get involved with, with scope to tailor your learning to your own interests. I got to meet some great people, both within the team that I would have met on the original internship, and also when collaborating with other interns worldwide on the two central challenges.

Both throughout the recruitment process and during my time on the virtual experience, I felt like everybody I came into contact with had a genuine interest in me as a person, and made an effort to make me feel welcome. Interns were assigned buddies (1-3 years into their career) and mentors (10+ years in) for weekly catch-ups to talk about the experience, career goals and general development. Mine provided great insight and were a pleasure to catch up with each week, making an effort to include me in their team's social activities. The virtual intern socials provided opportunities for interns to express themselves, and contributed to the impression that Visa truly celebrate their individuals.

The virtual experience revolved around two main challenges: a business case challenge in teams of 5-6, and a technical challenge where you could pick between a Hackathon (also teams of 5 or so) or a CTF attempted in pairs. The remaining time was mostly left for self-paced online learning. As such, there weren't many consistent deliveries required of us, so not much guidance was necessary. However, there was useful support in place for each of the challenges, with different experts within the company readily available to answer queries and support teams. Teams had assigned mentors to meet with regularly as part of the agile process.

The primary skills that I gained from the internship were less technically focused than I anticipated, since the experience had to be shifted to a virtual one, but I still gained some valuable soft skills and career insight, as well as first-hand experience of agile project management. Meetings with my mentor were most useful in this regard, as they worked with me to identify areas to work on in my soft skill-set, and provided constructive steps towards doing so.

Overall, despite the challenges of an entirely virtual experience, it was clear that Visa had a focused vision of what they would deliver, and executed upon it well. The global intern cohort had access to a central 'Intern Hub', where all important communications and resources were available, and where team organisation for the challenges took place. They seemed well equipped for any organisational or technical issues pertaining to the challenges, and provided us with clear timelines for the various activities well in advance. Their messaging was consistent and the content felt well suited to the experience.

As a result of the mostly self-paced nature of the experience, there were relatively few scheduled hours of content within each week, and so much of the work was done without direct interaction with others. I can't entirely fault Visa for this, as the change to a virtual experience was out of their control, but I still feel as though the in-person office experience would have offered a better atmosphere, since it felt a little empty at times. That being said, when interacting with other interns and members of the company, there was an incredibly positive atmosphere, and I felt supported and respected by others.

All interns had access to O'Reilly, a professional online learning platform, that has numerous courses on programming language skills, methodologies, and personal skills. This was where most of the self-paced learning took place, and there was a fair variety of content to choose from. The previously mentioned buddy/mentor system was also incredibly useful in terms of professional development. The mentor meetings each had a corresponding session plan, so that the weekly meetings would build on top of one another and work through different personal strengths and weaknesses. I feel like I really benefited from these, and they felt like a significant investment into me as an individual.

The virtual experience didn't involve directly working with the team that I would have in person, but rather with other interns on the challenges specifically made for the virtual experience. I didn't get the same taste of working on their real-world projects that I would have in person, so it was harder to get a feel for what a full time role would be like. I was able to shadow a team's planning meeting, and from talking with members of the team and my mentor, I was able to get a better sense of what they work on over weeks and months.

Through various interactions with members of the company and from the talks run as part of the internship, I feel as though I have a very good grasp of the company culture. Throughout the whole experience, a 'Leadership Speaker Series' took place. This was a series of live videos, where individuals high up in the company across different regions would talk about the industry, their career paths, and give useful advice to people starting their careers, answering live questions from interns. These talks were really useful, and gave a very down-to-earth impression of the company's leaders, shining a light on their outlook on life as well as business. It is clear that the positive and cooperative nature of the leaders runs within the company.

Since I wasn't able to get as good a sense of the software engineering process from a hands-on perspective, I feel like I didn't get a true sense of how well the role would suit me. However, I gained a good understanding of the company culture, and could see at a high level what it would be like to work for a large company, as well as learning about the payments industry. I'm excited to be returning for another internship next summer.

I was paid a highly competitive salary for the two months of the internship. When the plan was to still have an in-person experience, Visa committed to a large relocation budget for each intern, which would give them a flat amount of money to cover accommodation and/or travel for the summer, regardless of their situation, and with no caveats. This was no longer necessary for the virtual experience, but would have been a very welcome reimbursement if travel was necessary.

Not in the same way that there likely would have been. Virtual socials were hosted for the interns every couple of weeks, allowing interns to chat during live events and games. There weren't really opportunities to even get to know the interns from the same location, since we were all working remotely. My mentor and buddy made an effort to include me with their team socials, and I was able to interact with a number of employees then.

The intern socials grouped together regional cohorts, with a few members of the company leading the event (things like bingo and a talent showcase of live or prerecorded acts.) I enjoyed the events, but because there were simply so many interns in the calls, we couldn't get to know each other in the same way as we would in person, as everyone would be talking over one another and interrupting the host. I had a great time during the team socials, where we would play online party games, as these were smaller and more personal.

The aforementioned team socials were a weekly occurrence, and presumably occur in a different format when not working from home. Having visited the office for an assessment day, I was also aware of a games room within the office, and heard mention of office sports events. I also was made aware of Visa's volunteer time off initiative, where employees can take paid time off to do relevant volunteer work, as well as a number of opportunities to take courses tangential to work to boost your skills and knowledge.

Overall, I had a really great time at Visa, and came away having met some truly lovely people. The experience wasn't what I expected, but was well suited to the work from home necessity, during a fairly tumultuous global situation. My time there has helped me develop in a number of ways, and I'm very excited by the prospect of a potential career at Visa. Despite some flaws inherent to a fully virtual internship, they were well prepared and made evident effort to provide a worthwhile experience, so I would gladly recommend it.