Parker
City of Internship: New York, New York
Employer: Barclay's Bank How long was your internship and where did you stay? My internship was 8 weeks and I rented an apartment in SoHo with five of my friends who also were working that summer. It was kind of a commute to work every day, because the bank was uptown, but the neighborhood we lived in was really cool--definitely cooler than the neighborhoods close to the bank--and there was a Subway stop a block away from us so the trip wasn't too bad. |
What made you want to intern for Barclays?
In retrospect I think it was just kind of what everyone was doing. My Dad was really proud when he learned I had gotten an investment banking internship. I knew I didn't want to be an i-banker, but I thought everyone had to do it for the experience. Part of the reason it was so easy to find roommates was because so many of my friends were doing the exact same thing but for different banks. Do you think the experience was worth it? I guess in the long run it probably was. I definitely learned a lot and there were some things about the office that I really liked. Favorite and least favorite parts? My least favorite part was just the type of work I was doing. I was pretty sure I didn't want to go into investment banking even before the internship, but the experience definitely solidified that opinion. I am someone who likes to take owner ship of their work and feel like I am really contributing. As a 20 year old it was really hard for me to get a grasp on what exactly I was doing. I felt like I was just moving |
other people's large piles of money around all day. I didn't really feel like it mattered--it's not that empowering of a job. My favorite part of the office was the general vibe of my office in particular. I spent a lot
of time on the trading floor, and there is a really cool kind of cooperation that happens there. I play lacrosse in college, and it kind of reminded me of being on that team. You need everyone do to their part in these large projects, and you spend a lot of time with people and get to know them really well. I liked that we were kind of all a team.
What was it like being an intern in New York specifically? I think New York is kind of a hard place to be an intern. It's not really my kind of city to begin with though. But I thought I'd be able to see more of the city and meet a lot more interns than I was able to. As investment |
bankers, we were working such long hours that we didn't have much down time at all (See his day-to-day schedule). The free time we did have was spent sleeping. I didn't think there was as cool of a summer intern culture in New York as there is in other cities like D.C. and San Francisco.
Were you paid? Did that make any difference? I was paid--I received a weekly pay check as well as a stipend at the end of my internship. It was cool to be getting a pay check, but living in New York is so expensive I pretty much broke even at the end of the summer. Nonetheless, I didn't need my parents to spend money on me so they appreciated that. Any tips for first time interns? Deftinitely take advantage of all opportunities. And always eat lunch. People who skipped lunch were just crazy overachievers. |