Summer Analyst - Technology Review

Being able to see how a professional software development team works was a great experience, as were all the other aspects of the internship - the induction and training week, networking events, fortnightly 'hot topic' talks from senior figures in the bank, the group project with other interns, and the CSR (volunteering) day. The offices were superb and I really enjoyed working in Canary Wharf. I didn't meet a single person I didn't get along with

I was given a project to work on by myself that had real value for the team, and took part in the team's scrums (daily meetings), which included developers from New York and Hong Kong. I had regular catch-ups and feedback sessions with my director and with the technical lead, who were very welcoming and supportive. I was invited to the team lunches, and was treated like any other member of the team - I certainly didn't feel like an intern!

Every intern had an assigned 'buddy' from the grad scheme. Mine contacted me before the programme started, and was incredibly friendly and provided lots of support and advice - we met several times across London over the summer. We also had a mentor, someone more senior in the company, who we could go to with any issues, and who helped us explore other areas of technology, outside of the teams we were placed in. We also had 'product champions', who met with us regularly to check everything was going well, and who also handled our assessment and feedback at the end of the 9 weeks. Lastly there was the graduate/HR team who kept in contact with us and ran frequent drop-in sessions throughout the summer.

My day-to-day work consisted of the project I was given, which was separate from the work the other developers were doing. I felt it wasn't very clearly defined at the start, but my manager provided lots of guidance and I realised it was down to me to design the solution, rather than be told what to do, which in the end I think was a very useful experience. I was also given a separate task, to make a small fix in the codebase, and I really enjoyed being able to design and build my own fix, I was shown how to properly test it, and then commit it. Whilst the code was nothing groundbreaking, I found it really valuable to receive feedback from the highly experienced developers I was working with, and how they might have implemented it differently. There were a couple of weeks towards the end of the internship, where we had the intern group project alongside our day-to-day work that were particularly busy.

The culture was brilliant - I felt driven to complete my work and make the most of my internship, but at the same time never felt like I was being told what to do, or micromanaged. I was certainly never asked to do someone else's work or anything to that effect. It was up to me to organise meetings with my manager and the director, and to setup an online demo of the work I'd been doing at the end of the summer, and I think this level of independence taught me to be a lot more proactive.

We were given access to some e-learning modules that provided an introduction to banking and finance before the internship started. There was some fairly basic financial training, and information on the bank's structure, values, goals, etc, given in the first week, in 'classroom style' learning, with interns from all the other divisions, which was fairly fun. There was a presentation skills workshop which turned out to be far more useful than I expected. We were given talks from people in various roles within Tech, and insight into to the different possible career paths in Tech/IT. In my day-to-day work, I became familiar with several tools for professional development I'd not used before, which I'm sure will be useful for me in the future, and the people I was working with were very happy to explain how it all worked or help out when I was stuck.

As long as you were seen to be taking it seriously, you were free to work the hours you liked, take lunch whenever suits you, etc - it didn't feel like anyone was looking over your shoulder. There were generally people in the office from 8am-8pm, I normally did 8.30am-6.00pm, although I know some interns did more and others did less, a lot of it depends on the team you're placed in. Everyone was fairly focused on their own work, but it never felt quiet or uncomfortable.

The emphasis the company placed on the internship programme was incredible. In the first week we were treated to breakfast and lunch every day and there were networking or social events most evenings with everything paid for. There were more (optional) networking events throughout the summer, as well as numerous talks we could attend on a range of different technologies used within the bank, and fortnightly 'hot topic' talks, that were mandatory for all interns, which ranged from the economy and Brexit, to innovative technologies and the FinTechs the bank is working with. We also had a day out of the office to do some 'volunteering', and we were split up and given a range of activities to do across London. We had regular meetings with the recruitment team, and our mentors and product champions, as well as mid- and end-point reviews, so it didn't feel like we were forgotten about at all. Lastly there was the end of internship party in the OXO tower (again, all paid for), which was lots of fun.

The amount of support and guidance and feedback given to us, along with the interpersonal skills and presentation skills training we were given was

I was offered a position on next year's graduate scheme (after my final year at university), which I have accepted. The graduate scheme consists of a 3-day global induction (with graduates from around the world), followed by a week of general training, three weeks technical training, two six-month rotations, normally with one in a more engineering/development role and another more business-orientated, i.e. project management or support, and then you start a permanent position.

There were ~45 technology interns, with most based in Canary Wharf, and groups of us frequently went out for lunch together, and there were nights out most weekends. Most of the interns who weren't from London and were renting over the summer stayed in the same accommodation (as recommended to us), and a weekend trip to Brighton was setup by the interns. The technology interns were all placed in different roles/teams, and some were in different offices across London, so you wouldn't normally see them on a daily basis.

You could easily spend £10 on food a day (you'd struggle to get lunch anywhere for under £5). You'll also have to pay for travel across London when there are mandatory talks or events in other buildings (mostly in Winchester House), but the underground isn't that expensive (and very convenient with a contactless card). Club tickets and drinks on nights out are particularly pricey. If you have to rent in London for the summer it'll be quite expensive, but the pay still more than makes up for it. I commuted in from Hertfordshire, and a season ticket for two months, which included the train into London + unlimited use of the underground was about £800 (which is less than the 'living allowance' that's added on to your first pay-cheque).

The nightlife in London can't really be faulted.

The interns who were staying in London for the summer were very social and organised lots of events, from nights out or sightseeing round London to weekend breaks away. There were lots of optional evening evening events we were invited to by the graduate team.