Intern Review

I worked with a global team to maintain and integrate the firm's security products and ensure their reliable performance and delivery to stakeholders. This involved designing and implementing tools and procedures to deploy and configure infrastructure, investigate new products or vendors in a lab environment to compare potential new software acquisitions and debugging issues with existing products used by the firm. Also, communicating with the other team members or stakeholders via email, chat and video call.

I have had opportunities to brush up on my programming skills and gained a lot of confidence in communicating in written form and over video chats, which I had not had much experience of prior to the placement. Most notably, working at the firm allowed me to experience working at a scale that is far larger than most people get to experience, no university lab can compare to the number of machines and wide geographic distribution, I worked with on my placement.

Yes, it was up to me to make the most of my placement, having been given the tools to succeed. It was my responsibility to manage my time and meet deadlines for my projects. The projects I worked on were important to the firm and I had a good level of ownership. However, because banking is a heavily regulated industry, there were occasionally noticeable restrictions on access to critical privileges and systems which meant I had to work with full time employees, with the required access, to complete some parts of certain projects.

I was very satisfied with the level of support at the firm. I was assigned a manager and buddy by the firm and had weekly 1 to 1 meetings with my manager so that I would have a chance to raise issues. Because I worked on two teams, I had a different manager on the second team. I also had access to senior managers on the teams and set up regular meetings with them. Additionally, I worked closely with a colleague on my first team and they ended up mentoring me throughout the placement.

The firm clearly makes an effort to foster a sense of belonging for all employees. I worked with a very diverse team and found that the firm responded well to the many social issues, around the world, during my placement year. Within the firm, there are many networks allowing groups and allies to meet and organise events, talks etc. The firm has a culture of giving back, having made it a core value, this includes giving to charities and volunteering in the local community.

I enjoyed my placement a lot and was sad when it was over. I worked with some of the smartest people I know to keep an essential service running during a global pandemic which was incredibly satisfying. I built strong relationships with my colleagues and the other interns and their support helped me to get the most out of the opportunity. Overall, between the cool technology, good friends and constant opportunities to learn and grow, the placement met or exceeded all my expectations and I would definitely consider going back.

Yes

Enjoy the interview process, it is the first opportunity you have to meet the full time employees and get an idea of how good of a fit the firm is for you. When at the firm, make the most of networking opportunities, there are so many cool people working on interesting projects and I found everyone I spoke to, to be very generous with their time. Personally, the thing that inspired me most, when I was applying, was finding out that Bjarne Stroustrup worked at the firm.