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Discover Financial Services

Business Technology Intern Review

at Discover Financial Services

Internship (1 Month+)

Software Engineering

Farnborough

Review Submitted: August 2023

Overall Rating

5 /5

The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!

5/5 - Overview of Role
5/5 - Skills Development
5/5 - Support and Guidance
5/5 - Company Culture
5/5 - Overall Experience
5/5 - Future Career Prospects

Overview of Role

Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
I worked on frontend development of an internal tool, refactoring and extending the functionality. I worked with the team adopting agile methodologies: daily stand-ups, weekly syncs with product family, sprint refinements, reviews, planning and retros. My responsibilities included code development, deployment and CI/CD pipelines. Attended meetings, workshops, internal and external talks. Went out for lunch with the team almost every day. I worked with technical leads, subject matter experts, other developers, product owners, managers and other interns.
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
Yes. I got to be my own product owner, designer, developer, tester and client. I decided on the work that would be required, sorting my priority and planning across the available sprints. I created designs for what I would make, developed all the code and tested to try and break functionality.
I led meetings including daily stand-ups and weekly syncs with other teams in the product family. I was able to challenge those senior and helped teach others.
Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
5/5

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
I improved my skills on frontend development. I am much stronger in React.js and other supporting packages and tools. I learnt about a lot of other tools needed in CI/CD pipelines, deployment and for applying agile methodologies. This included Jira, Jenkins, OCP, AWS, Helm, etc.
I also improved my soft skills. I gelled well with the team, improving my confidence and collaboration skills. I became more courageous, innovative, set ambitious goals, gained responsibility, created positive energy and developed myself and others.
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
5/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
5/5

Support and Guidance

How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
There was a lot of support. The onboarding process was comprehensive and provided with all the information, tools and hardware required. I had a dedicated manager and subject matter expert (SME) which was my first point of contact. Having this SME was extremely helpful and allowed me to ask all questions I wanted without ever feeling shy and afraid of what I could ask. There was a strong support system in terms of having both technical and non-technical help.
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
5/5
How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
5/5

Company Culture

What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
Company culture and the general atmosphere was amazing. The work/life balance was great and heavily pushed. No one required to be online outside of work hours. We played different games including table tennis and frequently engaged in non-work related discussions. It felt more like a family than an uptight and corporate environment where everyone focused on helping each other rather than trying to get ahead themselves. Things were fun when possible but serious when needed.
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
5/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
5/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
5/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
5/5

Overall Experience

To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
I absolutely loved it. The career prospects are great, the work completed was meaningful and important. The team was amazing to work with. Maintaining a healthy work/life balance was seriously stressed. As it was said to us at the beginning, "This internship is like a well kept secret". The intern cohort was not huge but enough to gel together and make great friendships. There were so many extra opportunities and fun social and volunteering events.
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
5/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
5/5

Future Career Prospects

Please rate the future employment prospects at Discover Financial Services
5/5

Recommendations & Advice

Would you recommend Discover Financial Services to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to Discover Financial Services
Ask as many questions as possible. Do not be shy. Be curious. Adopt the Discover behaviours. Have fun. Meet as many people as you can; I tried to meet a new person everyday and everyone was overwhelmingly friendly and positive. Many of your coworkers will be relaxed and laid back but have serious technical knowledge. Use these people to your advantage. Learn as much as you can from them and if every there is something which does not make sense, these people will be the first and happiest to explain it to you.
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