This review was submitted over 4 years ago, so some of the information it contains may no longer be relevant.
Rating
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The Role
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The Company
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The Culture
- 1. To what extent did you enjoy your work placement or internship?
- 2. To what extent did you feel valued by your colleagues?
- 3. To what extent were you given support and guidance by management/your supervisor(s)?
- 4. How busy were you on a daily basis?
- 5. How much responsibility were you given during your placement?
- 6. To what extent did/will the skills you developed, and training you received, assist you in your degree studies and beyond?
- 7. What was the general atmosphere in your office?
- 8. How well organised was the overall work placement or internship set up?
- 9. In terms of personal training and development, to what extent did the company or firm invest in you?
- 10. What were the perks on your work placement?
- 11. How appealing are future employment prospects within the organisation?
- 12. Was there a good social scene amongst any fellow placement students/colleagues?
- 13. What was the cost of living and socialising in the area you worked in?
- 14. What was the Nightlife like in the area you worked?
- 15. Were there many opportunities to get involved in activities outside of work?
The Role
I would recommend it, and although an investment bank might seem quite intimidating at first, there's nothing to worry, the workplace atmosphere is great. Apart from the obvious things, I can say that it helped me to work better in a team.
People in the department were friendly and always ready to help. Moreover we had a buddy team, who was there to support us, and they did, for example by teaching us Test Driven Development and reviewing our code.
We had a Scrum master who helped us organise ourselves, a Subject Matter Expert for the questions, and a buddy team for even more questions.
We never had to stay after hours. We had weekly Sprint reviews and with such a short Sprint it might be hard to show progress each Friday, so before we got used to this Thursdays were slightly more intensive.
Independence and guidance were balanced out well. We were developing a project in Scrum, so we had a Project Owner, a Scrum master and a Subject Matter Expert. It was up to us to experiment, try different approaches and then present our findings with proposed solution to the Project Owner. Of course the Project Owner has the last word, but we never felt we are told what to do. Our SME provided us with the advice, but it was up to us to seek it :)
For me, these were skills for life. I learned how to work in a Scrum team and how to present (we had weekly Sprint reviews in front of our whole department). You have no other choice, but to learn these things during your internship. As a bonus, you can develop your coding skills or understanding of business, really it's up to you.
The Company
It was way better than I expected ;)
The first induction week was just ok, nothing special. After that everything was great, your desk is prepared for you to start working from day one.
You will get training in areas like presenting, life of a trade, programming in Python.
Subsidised/Company Gym
Company Parties/Events
If you do well, you will get the job. I did.
The Culture
There were plenty of intern events organised by HR and plenty other organised by us.
The office is in Canary Wharf, it's more business oriented. There are standard food places there like Wagamama or Nando's. Also you will be invited for a quick chat and a lunch by your manager.
It's Canary Wharf.
Yes, there are plenty of organisations e.g. you can volunteer to do charitable work.
Details
Internship (1 Month+)
London
October 2014