Summer Intern Review

My 10 weeks is JP Morgan, although short, has been one of the best experiences in my life so far. While interning on the Markets desks here, I was exposed to trading and hedging activities in real life, i.e. how traders make calls, get quotes, calculate prices, set up trades etc. It was a really eye-opening experience. In addition, I learned a great deal about financial products, not only in theory, but also how they payoff after taking into account of real life transaction costs.

JP Morgan has THE BEST culture among all the major investment banks. My colleagues are super supportive. They helped me in every way, from building up my knowledge base to guiding me through the day-to-day work. They really want me to get the job and help me to succeed in the company. There is no competition among people, no backstabbing or anything of that sort, the culture is super supportive and nice, the BEST bank ever.

While interning on Market desks, my managers were extremely helpful and patient in explaining to me the products and hedging strategies, as well as live trades. Interns were given a lot of work to do, really busy, but no one tries to make your life difficult. Managers help me in every way to finish my work early.

How busy an intern is depends very much on his division or desk. My internship has been super rigorous and busy, even more so than full-time analysts, because interns go beyond the basic tasks to work on additional projects and initiatives. I spent most of my hours in the office by the computer working on all kinds of software, and had lunch at my desk most of the times.

This depends on your team and your manager. For me, my manager tries to make the internship experience as realistic and engaging for me as possible, so I receive quite a lot of real work every day. Apart from those, I also worked on tasks that are only given to interns to help me get a better idea of the nature of the business.

Throughout the programme, I developed really strong Excel and programming (Python, R, VBA) skills, as I worked with those things for hours and hours each day. Other than that, I developed a better understanding of the financial markets, products and trading processes. Lastly, I developed better interpersonal skills. These hard-skills and soft-skills will certainly assist me in my time in school (i.e. I become more efficient when working on my homework and projects in school), and will stay with me for the rest of my life.

The general atmosphere in my office is great. I work on the trading floor, which is not as rowdy or noisy as some people perceive it to be, in fact quite the opposite, can be very quiet and tranquil at times. Colleagues are very friendly and supportive, and never have I heard about complains about anybody while I worked here.

The whole internship programme is very well designed and set up. Throughout the ten weeks, there has been plenty of training opportunities, either in the form of formal training or seminars. Interns also meet up regularly for socializing events when one gets to know many peers. In addition, there are live feedback sessions on a weekly basis.

JP Morgan certainly has invested a lot in personal training and development. For instance, as a summer intern, I received more than 100 hours of online and office (formal and informal) trainings. Furthermore, interns are encouraged to attend training sessions designed for full-time employees, which have been very insightful and beneficial as a supplement to the ample training that we already receive.

As JP Morgan is the largest investment bank with a huge commercial banking arm, it is able to hire people even when times are difficult like we are experiencing right now. The hiring rate from interns has been very satisfactory. JP Morgan certainly hires more than other big banks because its scale of operation requires so.

Yes, the social scene is great. As JP Morgan's culture has been super supportive and inclusive, interns are very much influenced by that and we effortlessly merged in the culture of JP Morgan. Competition between interns is not encouraged at all because there is space for everybody, meaning that one person's hiring decision is effectively independent from that of another.

I worked and lived in Central London. The cost of living is very high, mainly as a result of daily transport to and fro office and room rent. As I live in a student accommodation near a very lively neighbourhood in Shoreditch, socializing has been great. There is plenty of opportunities to hang out with people and know more friends, although it can be expensive.

As I live in a student apartment on the high street of Shoreditch (where there are many bars and pubs and plenty of restaurants), nightlife has been great. It is not uncommon for me and my flat mates to chill out somewhere after work or on the weekends to have some relaxing time.

Yes, JP Morgan offers plenty of events and opportunities for activities outside of work during the internship. For instance, we have a corporate social responsibility day where we went out to do community service. Also, there was JP Morgan Corporate challenge day where we went for a long run. Also, socializing events are very regular.