First Foundry Analyst (tech) Review

This summer I have not only been able to develop my technical skills but I have been able to develop as a person. I was embedded in a pre-existing team and given work that contributed to the overall business goal of the team. The extra activities arranged allowed me to communicate with senior leaders outside of my own team and also with smaller companies who worked with American Express. This allowed me to think about my future career inside or outside of the company.

I felt very valued by my team. They were welcoming from day one and were always on hand if I had any issues, technical or personal. I was always included in meetings. I was given the responsibility of customer facing task which I feel shows the amount of trust they had in me too.

My supervisor was in my team and he also booked meetings to have one-on-one chats about how I was feeling. The technical support he gave was fantastic and he also encouraged me to pick up side projects that he felt were unique to my interests. He also introduced me to people who he thought would help develop my career.

I was very busy within my placement. Alongside my own project there were many activities arranged for the interns to help us develop technically and personally. When I felt I had too much on my plate my supervisor helped me prioritise the tasks which he felt were the best to do. However, I felt no pressure from the team to stay late in the office and work.

I was given a lot of responsibility in my placement. I worked with another intern within a team and we were given a project to complete that was relevant to the team, and something the team would use when we left. Alongside this, I was able to pick up some live customer facing work.

I feel that technically I have taken away a lot of skills that I can use in my degree. I also have more of a feeling about what I’d like to specialize in, which has helped me pick my optional modules next year. I also have more of a feeling of where I’d like to go in terms of career progression in general.

The atmosphere in the office was great. The tech office didn’t seem to have the same corporate vibe that the rest of the company had. There were lots of biscuits in the office. The offices were really modern. There were breakout spaces and also focus rooms. The teleconferencing facilities were great.

The internship was well organised. I knew the day of the assessment centre whether I had a job or not. A few months later I had a Skype call with human resource managers to help pick which team I’d go to. I then had a conference call with my team to discuss the type of work I’d be doing.

Several training sessions were arranged within the office to help us learn skills. If we felt gaps were there we spoke the human resource managers and they helped arrange something. Soft skill workshops were provided in the first few days. Training was also done within teams to help us progress.

Future employment opportunities are great. The intern scheme feeds straight into the grad scheme. There was also a lot of interaction with the grads so we could really understand what would happen if we did get an offer. In the first week we had a presentation on how promotion worked in the company. This was followed up towards the end of the internship with talks by individuals who came on the grad scheme and ended up in very senior roles.

There were twelve interns on the tech scheme and we all had a great time together. We got lunch with each other most days and also did stuff in the weekends / evenings together as well. The grads would also join us if we were going to the pub in the evening too.

Brighton isn’t cheap compared to where I go to uni, but the canteen at work was subsidized and we also got the opportunity for quite a bit of free food and drink within the internship. Most people found places to live in student houses where people were renting out rooms for the summer.

Nightlife was great. I ended up making friends outside of work and there was lots of opportunities for water sports and drinks on the beach. The pay was enough that I felt like I could afford to do this and I didn’t miss out on anything this summer because I couldn’t afford it.

The interns and grads did lots of stuff together outside of work. This was more arranged by ourselves than by the company. Weather was good and we did a lot of stuff and the beach and had a day in the countryside too. Lots of pub trips and time exploring the city together.