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I was placed in a team of around eight employees. However, for most of the time I directly worked in a small group of two other interns on a project for the team, supervised by one manager. Since I worked in such a small group, I felt highly valued and my work had significant impact. The work is also useful for the team and other similar teams which added to the satisfaction.

I had one direct manager supervising and guiding the summer project. I also had a more senior mentor from another team who provided general guidance and helped with any questions regarding career progression. I was also assigned a buddy with whom I could ask more general day to day questions. Various (optional and non-optional) help sessions, both technical and personal were organised.

For the first two weeks, we had training sessions which took up most of the day leaving little time for project work. This made it seem very busy and project progress was slow. As the weeks passed, the training and other organised sessions reduced leaving more time for project work, but then project deadlines stared coming along. Overall, it was fairly busy. I worked one or two weekends to keep up.

I had a wide range of training in programming languages such as java, SQL, HTML5 etc. However, I spent most of my time using a propriety language which is not really useful outside the company. Nevertheless, some general programming skills are picked up and these can be useful for the future. Other useful training was on soft skills such as presentations and personal branding.

There were many interns in my general area which meant the atmosphere was nice and fairly relaxed at most times. However, banking is a formal industry and can be tense at some points in time, especially when there is an issue with some software in production and the team is busy fixing it. Nevertheless, the employees are friendly and always eager to help provided they are not too busy.

The placement was highly organised. There was a structured training programme, and various networking events designed to incorporate the interns into their teams, and also to gain familiarity with other divisions and build up networks. A trip to Bletchley Park was organised along with a charity event which involved cleaning up a river. These both were a nice break from the office and a good change to network with other interns.

I feel that the company invested a large amount into my personal training and development. This is because around sixty per-cent of the time, I was on some sort of training or networking event. This means there is little time to do useful project work which the company directly benefits from. Instead, they focused on my training which may bring them future benefit if I chose to/am able to return.

Although the industry is facing some concerns and uncertainty regarding the recent Brexit vote, company morale seems high and employment seems mostly unaffected. This is the case for the technology roles at least, but may not be true for other roles such as IBD. The firm is very good at recognising talent and they are keen on investing in young talent especially, meaning that employment prospects are high.

The social scene was great. There were many funded social events organised by human capital management, for example, the leavers’ part at Bounce. Also, the fact that there were over 100 interns (in technology at least) meant that there was always some event after work. Furthermore, my team was also fairly social meaning some events were organised in order to get to know each other better.

I worked in Blackfriars in London. This is an expensive place to live and socialise, but the compensation provided by the firm is fair and considers this. There is also a relocation bonus which can help to cover the cost of some/all of the rent. Although places can be expensive, most social places recognise Î÷¹ÏÊÓƵ cards and have discounts for Î÷¹ÏÊÓƵs.