Technology Spring Insight Week Review

A lot of talks every day from managers and higher ups in the company. A lot of interaction with new hires too. A lot of talks about employability skills and behavioural aspects of interviews. Not a lot of focus on technological aspects of working in tech at a bank. Big focus on saying that you dont need a computer science to work in tech. One workshop for 1h30min on electronic trading with foreign exchange currencies. Had to make a powerpoint outlining a project which was actually implemented a couple years ago.

Learned a lot about people skills, being better at networking and better at "corporate speak". Developed networking skills by talking to many other spring interns (also from outside tech). I learned how to present my personal brand (never really thought about it before) and how to talk with people. Learned how to navigate a corporate environment - which can be very busy and stressful. Found out about other parts of the firm aswell, due to many talks from the finance people.

Participating in Morgan Stanley's Technology Spring Insight Programme offered a comprehensive introduction to the diverse roles and operations within the Technology division of a major financial firm. Given the setup of the programme, understanding the business and the potential roles available was an enlightening and engaging experience. The session helped contextualize the importance of technology in financial services and especially within the firm. It gave a nice base of understand of all the different parts of the firm

It was a relatively relaxed company culture - everyone was very kind to each other and said their coworkers are like their friends (or in some or many cases their only friends). The atmosphere is very people focused and less on the technology, which can be a good but also a bad point. The atmosphere was very corporate compared to other firms I have been at. These other firms were more "geeky" and embraced the focus on technology and solving problems, rather than the people.

I enjoyed meeting many people and finding out about the firm. It gave me a good image of what it would be like working there, although I feel like I met one of the smartest people in the firm, but only had 2 minutes to talk to her, which was very unfortunate. I feel like focusing more on the actual technology rather than the people would have been more fun, but maybe this is not what the firm is about.

No

I would suggest that you are very interested in working with people. You do not need to be outstanding in the technological aspects, but only need an interest in the firm. Make sure to work on your HR interviews (the ones about your soft skills and that type of stuff). Be prepared to ask them questions that make you seem interested. Some tech skills might be useful, but no need to be able to answer super tricky problems.