End Strong?

If you had been following the news, you'd be as worried as I am. The market is bad, companies are cutting down employees, your colleagues being escorted down followed by thank you emails saying that they are pursuing "other opportunities"...

It's obvious that no matter how good you are, the company is cutting down its budget and internship offers might be postponed due to this... regardless, our internship class did a good job in our last presentation.

We had a project a few weeks back to analyze crisis and present it to a partner. It was a tough project: the modelers coded to get us the numbers and the analysts prepared trends and analysis - it was a good blend of arguments and agreement which led us to this success. The partner liked it and he had no questions/doubts in our analysis. We were so proud of ourselves, our products, and our hard work for the past week.

Next week is going to be my last week here, we have several closing events, networking events, and town halls. I hope to end strong in this last week and make them want me more, despite of the market condition.

I'll miss GS and I'll miss NY. I'll miss all the food and entertainment that NY has to offer.

internship and you.

So, I have chatted with many people across divisions and within divisions to find out if my internship is really what I wanted - whether I like the people, the nature of the job, and the future of the job.

I really like the people that I work with, most of them have PhDs, but they are the humblest and funniest people I have met. They are willing to share their knowledge and experience to me, which I thought was priceless. The hierarchy is so blurred, and people do get recognized based on their meritocracy.

The department HR really tried hard to improve retention. There was a soccer event last week within department that I really enjoyed. It was good to see how people are outside their office, when they're not as serious not as tight. It was also a good way to "network" with upper management people. They are so approachable, I really like the people.

Next, is the nature of the job. The nature of the job is very quantitative and analytical. Basically, calculating risks for every position that Goldman has, then explaining why, and why not. I get a lot of exposure to the traders and their mind process behind a transaction. That's interesting, but difficult. I'm still learning that and I want to learn more about it.

Is this something that I want to do in the future?I don't know. The prospect of this job is high. Since the crisis in 2008, many people are worried about the risks that the traders are taking. And one of the reasons why Goldman was less impacted by the crisis is because we have a strong risk department. This is what people are most concerned about now, and hopefully this will continue to be the case in the future.

Time flies and here I am, 8 weeks into the internship. Do I like my internship experience so far? Will I come back? Those are the questions that I try to answer before the end of my internship and before making a decision (if i get an offer).

Internship ++

It's been a while, and it's been busier...

True, I've learnt a lot about the industry and how things are done. I'm also more comfortable with the people around me, who I work with, and also my daily tasks - therefore I finish my work faster. However, work never ends.

There are 13 interns within Market Risk Management and Analysis, some are PhD students (modelers), some are undergraduates (analyst) , and some are MBAs (corporate). The intern manager in my department gave us a new intern group project to use our skills cohesively to analyze crises. Yeah, that's vague.

My team tries to work on the different matrices and indices to look at the risk factors and correlations between crises. We're not set yet, but we have a solid game plan. I think this topic is very challenging. The fact that it's open ended made it more difficult, and with only 3 weeks to go, we're concerned that we will not have time to finish this. Most interns sacrifice their weekends to finish their current daily project already, with this additional project, we will have to prioritize on which one is the most important one.

Additionally, our buddy gave us this tip: the first half of the internship is about task quality, the second half is about networking. We're required to meet with different people from different departments to learn more about them, at the same time learn more about our department. That is time-consuming. There is so much to do in so little time.

While most people are enjoying the sun in NY City, I guess the Market Risk interns will have to enjoy the ultra-violet ray from our Bloomberg Screen.

Cheers!

3rd week (out of 10) into the internship

Hello,

I'm liking NYC more and more- the restaurants, the entertainment, street activities, parades, and also my job. Working in Market Risks Analysis, I have to generate a lot of numbers which I initially didn't understand. Now, I am able to understand it so much better, what it's used for and what people can do with the numbers. The bank's ability to analyze trends from the weekly, monthly, and also quarterly reports really shows how detail oriented they are!

Last Friday, I had my informal review with my manager talking about my strengths, my weaknesses, and also about the internship experience for me so far. So far, the reviews have been good, and I'm expecting better things to come along the way. I was able to tell him the things that I might want to explore, even outside the department, and he was able to set things up so that I can manage my career better. Internal mobility within the firm is tremendously encouraged. I really like how personalized this internship has been, both from the activities and also from the friendships I made with the interns.

Also, the bank has a women's champion network to ensure that women can get leadership positions within the firm. They teach us to ask the right question, to "manipulate" our presence, and making sure that we are able to sell ourselves appropriately. I thought it was a very interesting presentation because women tends to be shy when asking questions. They encourage people to escalate problems as soon as possible and not pretend to be smart...

I've also started get to know my colleagues better, hanging out with them, and in fact, I'm going to have dim-sum with them in 1 hour time! I would definitely love to learn about them a little bit more, especially their humility despite of their great achievements!

Stacy Lim

Goldman Haven

Hi everyone,

My first week of internship had been super great. I'm bombarded with training for the first week, shadowing after, and I should be able to make my first contribution to the firm by next week. The building faces the Hudson river and the statue of Liberty, which made my workplace a relaxing place to be at. I'm still learning to navigate around excel to be as proficient as I could be, it's a steep learning curve to memorize all the short-cuts and jargon that my team (MRMA) uses everyday.

New York has definitely treated me well. I initially had some problem with housing, I was scammed. But now I'm staying at the FIT dorm, which is 1 metro stop away from times square, and 20 minutes away from the office. New York has ALL the kinds of food that you ever crave for: ZAGAT rated restaurants, Michelin star-rated restaurants, Italian, Japanese, and also Halal food on the streets.

Everything else is awesome, including the metro! I got the monthly pass, and I'm enjoying the ride! I hope everything is as well as this week from today onward until the end of the internship!

Stacy Lim

the heart of NYC!

School just ended, seniors just graduated, and it felt so good to have a break after all the hard work last semester. Being a BBA junior also means that I will have to be interning this summer.I'm so excited about my internship opportunity in Goldman Sachs, Market Risks Management.

I'm not sure the exact divisions yet, maybe fixed income, maybe equity, maybe corporate, but I'm excited for all of them. I'll probably be looking at Bloomberg, excel sheets, and GS's own softwares to track stocks and equities and make analysis out of it. This is my first time working in New York, so I'm very nervous about it. I hope that I can be a contribution to the company, and I really wish to be able to learn and adapt really fast. Working from the 20th floor of the heart of New York city is going to awesome!

~Stacy Lim

(Indonesian)