Global Markets Summer Analyst Review

Overall it was a great internship. Working in a top investment bank on the trading floor is a truly unique experience and you learn a great deal in a short amount of time. The work is confusing and stressful at times but the overall experience was still positive and I would definitely come back.

As an intern, there is a limit to what you can actually contribute to the desk, however I still felt valued by my colleagues and on the whole people made a good amount of effort to spend time with you. DB spend a lot of resource investing in interns and grads so you can tell that the bank really does care about you.

This varied depending on the desk and nature of the team. One team were very supportive and helped me a great deal where as another desk very much left you to get on with things yourself. There's pros and cons to both approaches but on the whole I felt I could get support when needed.

This varied by desk as well but on my two rotations I was busy for pretty much the whole time. Things take longer as an intern and you have to juggle multiple projects at once which means there is always something to do. The hours weren’t too unsociable either and as a full time employee you could have a pretty balance life.

A lot of the internship is about showing your interest and just learning about the business. This involves a lot of shadowing and absorbing information. You are however given some responsibility to help with live projects such as preparing pitch books and summarising research. The more you prove yourself, the more responsibility you are given.

My degree is basically pure maths so there is little direct application here. However, the internship has made me more focused and pay more attention to detail which will no doubt help my final year studies. The technical knowledge will of course help me in my career once I return to banking full time.

The overall atmosphere was very positive. Most people were very welcoming and friendly when I joined however as expected in all work places, there were pockets that were not so nice. Both of my teams were very sociable and there were always events and drinks on after work during the week.

The internship was very well organised straight through from the first round interviews to the end of internship party. On boarding was very easy and there was continued support and updates from HR for the duration of the internship. There was also a good DB app which provided updates for interns.

DB invests a huge amount into its internship and graduate programmes. It offers one of, if not the best training programmes on the street. They provided a lot of training and senior management take a real interest in the development of the class. There was also a lot of support from individual teams in terms of training.

DB is a great place to have a career. It is one of the leading investment banks and they are one of the few banks that still offers a rotational grad programme. As a GM grad you still get to try out 4 more desks before you settle into a full time role so you can be sure you find something you really love.

The global markets grad class was very sociable and we often went out for drinks together after work or nights out in London at the weekend. I have some friends in other divisions but it was harder to socialise with other groups due to different office locations and working hours.

Living in zone 1 central London was always going to be expensive. Rent was around £200pw and you’d do well to find a pint for under a fiver. However, you are paid generously and had very little outgoings other than the social side of things so you never felt restricted in what you were doing.

The city has lots of bars and pubs very near to the office. It’s a much more sociable atmosphere than over in canary wharf so I would highly recommend trying to work centrally if possible. I also stayed very near to Shoreditch so the weekend nightlife was always very good.

There are lots of societies and initiatives at DB for outside of work activities however as an intern I didn’t get that involved as I was focusing on my desk work. The banks promotes a lot of volunteering and social work so there is definitely plenty to do outside of work if you want to.