Spring into Technology Intern Review

I thoroughly enjoyed my insight week at J.P.Morgan which involved a wide range of team competitions and networking opportunities. The first day consisted mainly of talks which were all very interesting and time to socialise with the others on the course. The second was a team based coding competition where we designed tanks to compete with each other as well as the other J.P.Morgan offices which was great fun. The final day was more team challenges and a great chance to meet some of the executives. The socials each night also presented a great opportunity to get to know the people also on the course.

Although I was only in the company for the three days of experience I felt very comfortable to speak with the organisers or indeed any other members of staff that helped out. There was a good atmosphere and although they were assessing us in the various events we took part in it never felt imposing.

The HR team that organised the event were very supportive and accommodating to ensure any issues were resolved. They had no problem calling taxis for people if they wanted to go back to the hotel before heading out for dinner rather than getting the coach. We also received great feedback from the organisers of the group challenges to help our teams achieve.

The advice I received throughout was extremely helpful with regards to my career, especially the opportunity to shadow different graduates to understand how they decided that J.P.Morgan was the place for them and what they get up to each day. Considering it was only three days I felt it has really changed my perspective of what working for a bank like J.P.Morgan would be like.

I think it was very well balanced between educational talks and collaborative challenges to keep it interesting. The days were quite long but I was glad as filled with fun activities and were followed by great socials in the evening as it enabled us to make the most of the three days

The atmosphere was great, striking a good balance between being professional but still relaxed so you felt you could relax and just be yourself. It never felt too direct or pressured and this really helped everyone come together and not be afraid to voice their opinions and ideas in the team events.

There was a limit to how much they could in the three days we were there as it was only really a taster for what it is like a J.P.Morgan. That said nothing was spared in giving us all the equipment, food and basically anything else we asked for. There was help available during all of the coding challenges for people who were inexperienced programming so nobody got left behind.

We spoke to a wide range of employees all who were responsible for different things within technology at J.P.Morgan which gave me a good idea of what I would want to do if I pursued a career with them in the future. This ranged from cybersecurity to a very impressive demonstration regarding the need for better accessibility support in software.

As we got to speak to so many different people during the three days I felt I got a good insight into the way the company operates and supports its staff. The support was evidently really key to J.P.Morgan to help their staff learn and find the best team/project for them.

We had lots of opportunities to ask questions on both days so anything that came to my mind about career prospects at J.P.Morgan I was able to ask straight away.

We all had the option for J.P.Morgan to pay for our transport and to put us up in a hotel in the centre of Bournemouth.

With each event, there was a new group of J.P.Morgan employees helping so we met a wide range of employees all the way from graduates who had only been with the company a matter of weeks to directors who had worked for them for 30+ years which gave a great range of opinions and perspectives.

The socials were excellent in the evenings with great food and a free bar at two good venues. The second even involved a treasure hunt to get to which was great fun. We also had networking opportunities during the day over lunch and in small groups which made it easy to relax and chat.

We were told a lot about the work benefits with J.P.Morgan such as discount in various stores and off memberships as well as the clubs run by employees very similar to university societies which seemed like great fun to get involved with. One of the graduates I spoke to was on the football team while others helped out in a tech support type of role in their spare time to help the less tech literate members of the J.P.Morgan team.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in technology as it is really worth seeing first hand what is developed by J.P.Morgan in-house as it was far beyond what I was expecting for a bank. I definitely felt much more like a technology company than a bank and so would definitely be worth seeing for yourself.