Spring into Technology Review

The virtual experience allowed me to gain a very good insight into the company structure, values and what sort of projects I would be working on during my time there. I found the Q&A sessions very informative and enjoyed the use of InsideSherpa and Secure Code Warrior to help me refine my skills and build a basis for the skills I need to work on ready for my year long placement. I thought the idea of allowing participants to actually contribute to code that the company uses daily (via GitHub) to be an interesting concept and I look forward to putting in some of my own contributions in the future.

At every stage of the program J.P. Morgan made me feel that my opinion was valued and that I could ask questions and receive meaningful answers. In each session there were simple methods of asking questions to the presenters and I used these to great effect, especially in Q&A sessions. One thing I think could be improved is the support for InsideSherpa as when I found myself stuck on a task, I would have to wait a fair amount of time for a response. However' I would still say communication is great as when the replies were sent, they were detailed and even went beyond the question that was asked to give some useful information.

I received a fair amount of support during the virtual experience, I feel ample time was given to complete each task and where I needed guidance on how to solve a specific problem there were always specialists within the area on hand to assist in getting me to the correct answer. As previously stated, this help sometimes came with a delay but the information received was always good enough that I could then go on to complete the task.

I found the skills that I developed to be invaluable for my degree program. I immediately returned to a group coursework and began to implement what I had learned about secure coding practices into my group project that I was working on at the time. I also believe that this information will be pertinent this year along with when I begin my placement next year. I learnt a lot about the company structure and how they operate which I also believe to be invaluable knowledge for undertaking my placement with them in June.

The virtual experience was quite well structured; we were given advance notice of meetings, Q&A sessions, tasks, and task deadlines. I found the organisation to be perfect with no cancelled sessions and scheduled sessions beginning and ending at the correct times. I feel the Q&A sessions were some of the most important parts as we managed to have discussions with people in important roles and those in similar positions to us with relative ease and seamless transitions.

I would say the atmosphere was one of the major points in which the course was lacking. The entire course was spent online, this meant that we missed out on some of the most important features of the event, including one which I was particularly looking forward to, networking. I cannot fault the organisers of the event for this issue as there were unforeseen circumstances which led to the course having to go fully online and due to this we were lucky to have a course at all.

J.P. Morgan had clearly invested a lot into the program; we were working with external resources, we were given plenty of tasks to do in order to give us a knowledge of specific concepts as well as how the company works. Prior to the course moving online, J.P. Morgan was paying for the event, travel, and accommodation, therefore I believe no expense was spared in giving us the best experience possible, even with the short notice to moving completely online.

As has been a general theme throughout my review of this placement, I believe that I have a much greater understanding of the the company politics, structure, and what I will likely be doing when I go for placement in 2021. I could not get as much information by talking directly to people from within the company as I would have liked due to the nature of the course, and the fact that I didn't have any one to one opportunities to discuss my specific circumstances.

I believe that I have a much greater understanding of the the company politics and structure, I was able to talk/listen to some people in the more important roles within the company as well as people who have been in a similar position to me. I believe this combination of perspectives from people experienced in the company culture and those who were in a similar position to me very recently has given me a very sound understanding of the company culture and what to expect.

I don't think that this course was particularly helpful in deciding my future career path as I believe this was not the point of the course. I am already a student studying computer science, and there was not a broad enough range of activities for me to decide on any specialist subjects or teams that I would like to join during my placement. However, I do believe that this course quelled some of my concerns in terms of the way the company operates, and how my placement will be undertaken.

J.P. Morgan generously paid for travel and accommodation before the course was moved entirely online so these expenses weren't required.

There were no networking or social events during this course due to the online nature and lack of time to plan.

There were no networking or social events during this course due to the online nature and lack of time to plan.

There was not a lot of information on this as the course was mostly based on the work you can undertake at J.P. Morgan. We were made aware that there is a gym and some sort of garden on-site. The person who had done the internship in the previous year also spoke of the nightlife and the ability to go out and chat with friends after work but no information was given as to any activities planned by J.P. Morgan themselves.

I would absolutely recommend this experience to a friend and have had many conversations with friends already about the course content. I believe this course can give you a fantastic insight if you are planning to work for J.P. Morgan or even just apply to work there and would like some more information on what you will be doing, how the company works, as well as what skills and values you will need to enjoy your time there.