Summer Intern Review

I worked on a project team as a business analyst, as part of the change directorate. Our project was focused on enacting a change in the law. As part of this, I interacted with stakeholders and product groups to make sure requirements were documented, communicated thoroughly, and satisfied well.
In addition, I worked on ensuring the project had good traceability by creating various trackers to link finished products with the original user stories and high level requirements.

Yes - I was put on a working project team, and one of my coworkers was scheduled to leave so I took over some of their work packages. I was also left in charge of the overall BA requirements document, and the BA action list within that - making sure other project BAs completed their tasks by specific deadlines that they and I set together.
Again, I created trackers to support traceability within the project, which will be used after I have finished.

There are a lot of skills required as a business analyst- stakeholder management, product group management, managing workflows and coordinating timelines to ensure as little time is wasted as possible.
A big part of this is process mapping, the act of flowcharting processes to create a project plan map that is easy to follow.
I coordinated with other, more experienced BAs to improve my skills and overall knowledge of the project, in which communication was key.

A lot.
Generally, everybody I spoke to was willing to answer any questions I had, and was very friendly and patient considering I was an intern, with a limited knowledge pool.
Specifically, I had plenty of support from my project team, with each member explaining their role within the team very early on. My project manager also gave me a rundown of his career as well as some good advice on how to proceed with mine.
That's not to mention all the help provided by the early careers team.

As I mentioned before, everyone I spoke to was friendly and patient, and everyone was willing to explain their role and the wider organisation as a whole, as well as answer any questions that I had.
The general atmosphere is a lot less stressful than one might expect, with plenty of emphasis on networking, DEI and overall wellbeing- for example, thr organisation encourages taking an extra hour for your lunch break on Wednesdays to promote wellness.

I enjoyed it very much! The work was challenging whilst not being overwhelming, and I was able to work on social/team building initiatives as well as my standard project work.
The culture and the people also made the experience for me - I would never dread coming into work (as i have in previous employment) because there was nothing negative to worry about.
The time has passed really quickly, which I think is a testament to how much I enjoyed it.

Yes