Each day involved a host of activities and talks based on teaching us the different roles and views at J.P.Morgan, alongside the different career paths available while there. Activities were aimed at interactively developing and showing us the core skills used as a technologist within the firm, and what kind of skills will need to be learnt if working there in certain positions. Alongside that, many opportunities to network with current employees with all sorts of backgrounds and current roles, from all over the company hierarchy, allowing us to interact and learn more from differing points of view. Fun opportunities to socialise and network with fellow students are also provided.
During our time there, we learnt about agile development, empathetic programming, UX design principles, test-driven development and cybersecurity. Though I had learnt it in theory, being able to actively take part in an activity using agile development, Scrum specifically, was a great learning experience. The way the sessions were run was done in a way to not only make it educational, but memorable. Before this programme, though I had considered empathy while programming, I hadn't considered many of the reasons behind it, and not to the degree that had demonstrated. It goes to show how even though small changes can make a big difference, most don't know about it. Test-driven development was another concept I had covered theoretically, but not something I had put into practice. To say the least, it was much simpler than expected, and is something I'll make sure to make use of in the future. Between UX design and cybersecurity, due to some previous experience outside of education with the content covered, no new knowledge had been gained due to time restraints, but they provided a great reminder of things I had overlooked or forgotten, alongside providing some great online resources to both help learn more about it as well as to aid during development.
Coming into it, I had expected to know the majority of the roles that would've been presented, alongside how the culture would be being in a bank. After having come out of it, I can solidly say that all my previous expectations have been shattered in the best ways possible. I wouldn't have been able to expect how open and nurturing the culture is there, and how passionate everyone we met was. Having spoken to many employees from a range of backgrounds to get their insight and learn about their different paths through the company, the possible paths and roles available vastly exceeded anything I could've foreseen,
The culture at J.P.Morgan is one that is highly inclusive and nurturing. Everyone there is very friendly and understanding, being understanding that employees are human and can learn, alongside have their own bad days. Furthermore, they look to support their workers by providing them with the opportunity to join internal networks outside of their teams, being with people with similar backgrounds of life experiences, to make it more welcoming. They're also keen on helping others as a whole, aiding charities outside of just charitable donations, by providing their workforce opportunities to work on projects for them to make use of J.P.Morgan's abundance of skill.
I very much enjoyed the insight week. Though it was only a short period of time, I feel like I was given a great opportunity to meet and learn about a large number of different people, both from my fellow attendees and employees at J.P.Morgan. The selection of employees provided allowed for talks with people from all different backgrounds and paths making the conversations more than just a copy and paste between people.
Yes
For those looking to apply to any roles within J.P.Morgan, look to show who you are as a person, more than just what you know. While there, they are more than willing to teach the skills required to those that complement their open and nurturing culture, alongside those with a keen interest in working for them. Show them your interest in the company and why you want to work with them specifically, alongside your interest in others.
Insight / Vacation Scheme (< 4 Weeks)
Computer Science
Central London and City
April 2022