Summer Technology Intern Review

It was on the whole a lot of fun; I enjoyed learning about the finance industry, seeing it from a technology perspective. It was also very useful to experience what life is like in a big corporation like JP Morgan Chase. There were lots of opportunities for interns to get to know each other better and I made a lot of friends.

I worked in a team of about 8 members, who were all very welcoming towards me, and I felt that they were very pleased to get to know me. They all took time out of their days to help me with any issues I was having and explained how and what they were working on.

My manager was very supportive of everything I did, understanding exactly what my experience was (fairly limited) and identifying the areas in which I should learn and improve. He also allocated time from the other members of the team to sit with me and provide explanations and exercises to improve my skills and knowledge. If I needed any more support for anything he was always happy to help.

At times I had a full day in which I had to be working fairly constantly but the majority of the time I would finish anything I had to do fairly quickly and then be searching for other things to occupy my time. Thankfully there were lots of extra meeting and training sessions that I could go to but I often had to resort to just making notes from Wikipedia pages.

I wasn’t given much responsibility at all. I started my placement with very little relevant knowledge of the finance industry and therefore had to spend a lot of time learning the useful skills. I felt that after this though I could have been given more useful things to do, helping the team with their normal work.

I spent a lot of time learning SQL, which the team uses every day. I went from having never done any, to being reasonably proficient in it. SQL is used by an enormous range of applications and I am sure that as my career progresses I will use it frequently in business situations.

The atmosphere was very relaxed and friendly. My team were always very happy to help me with anything and my floor was very big, so I could go and chat to my friends whenever I liked as they were in the same big room as me. We could also choose our own breaks when we wanted.

The internship was very well set up by the organisational staff which you would expect from a very large company which places a lot of emphasis on its internship programme. There were lots of events and extra training sessions for interns to which we were invited, as well as the other activities offered to full time employees. It took a long time to get logged in to the computer systems on the first day, but this was only a minor issue.

I felt that the firm were very interested in my development and though that I would be an asset to them going forward. My team spent a lot of time sitting with me, explaining the important concepts of their work and also setting me well balanced training exercises so I could progress.

I felt that the prospects for future employment were very good, with lots of interns being offered full time graduate positions after their internships. I also liked the way there is a chance to travel once you have spent a little time within the firm and there seemed to be good routes to more senior management positions.

There was a very good social scene with the other interns with someone always organising a night out at the end of the week. There were also lots of other ways to socialise such as going go karting and specific intern events like an end of internship reception at a local hotel.

The cost of living wasn’t bad when you consider that a lot of the finance industry is based in London which is a lot more expensive. I would imagine that Bournemouth would be cheaper during the winter when there are fewer holiday makers. The cost of the university hall of residence where I was staying was roughly what I was expecting.

The nightlife was very good, which I think was mostly set up for people on holiday so it may not be quite so good outside of the holiday months. There were always people who wanted to go out if you did. There were also a few intern only evening events which were very fun.

There were lots of activities outside of work, including a lot of different sports clubs. I enjoyed going to the touch rugby sessions and they have a team which plays in a league. There are also a range of different volunteering activities arranged by the firm to suit different skills and interests.