M&T Bank

Marketing & Data Analyst Intern

June - August 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I loved the M&T culture, the internship program and the people I worked with.

What I wish was different

I wish I had done a little bit more marketing.

Advice

I would tell people to network with everyone within their departments and beyond. You never know who you want to stay in touch with.

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Software Engineer Intern

June - August 2018 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

Being able to gain work experience and seeing how people operate in a professional setting. I'm also glad I was able to get a taste of a different kind of company (M&T considers themselves very conservative to traditional banking values), working for a large company-especially one that's located in my hometown, and getting to figure out what I like and don't like. I learned a lot of new things, but I don't know how many of them are applicable to what I want to do after graduation, and it also steered me away from a direction that I knew I didn't want to go in after I was done with my internship.

What I wish was different

I wish I could have been on a different team, or at least had some flexibility as to what I was doing during my time at M&T Bank. I wasn't too fond of the project we did and many times I felt like I was not maximizing productivity for the team because I wasn't interested in things that they found exciting, and often times when I sought help from team members there wasn't much insightful feedback, and expectations for my progression as the summer moved on was extremely unrealistic. Also, the overall mood of the people working there full time was bland. People were clearly not enthusiastic about working at M&T, aside from Project Managers, and upper level employees like the new CIO, and department overseers. This to me overall brought the mood down, and sometimes made me dread going to work. The technology used every day was clearly due for an overhaul (not using Agile as your development methodology, swearing by closed license software as the holy grail of security and development, being admin locked from everything including IDE's, extensions, and other software that can greatly improve productivity, all PC's still running Windows 7 in 2018, still using monolith services as your main Design Pattern for Infrastructure when growing businesses in the industry are switching over to microservices like Kubernetes, also Microsoft Outlook is outdated, etc.) I also wish I could've gotten paid more, but it's hard to negotiate pay when you only have a couple of offers, and you're a freshman looking for your first internship. I strictly remember talking to a lead in the Technology department halfway through the summer about reasons they struggled with acquiring new talent. When one of the reasons for this was revealed to be due to lack of pay for new undergraduates looking for full time work, and asking what M&T pays new employees now, the reply I was given was "I'm not going to tell you, I want you to return here" although all of this data is available on websites like Glassdoor, hearing it from someone who is currently working there immediately made me question any considerations I had about coming back to work at M&T for both full time and seasonal work (Not to say that I wouldn't return, but it was a big eye opener) When you're that open about how much you don't pay Software Engineers, and other people in Technology, although it's appreciated, it reflects a lack of understanding reality in the city, and more specifically the world we live in which is dominated by Software. I can name 5 companies off the top of my head right now paying new grad Software Engineers upwards of $100k starting salary in the City of Buffalo, and the fact that M&T Bank can't match that is weird to think about since they've been one of the most successful banks in the United States. Another thing I disliked was the cubicles, they made me feel isolated from my team and less involved with what was actually going on within the project. Now that I currently work in an open office setting I can fully understand why I felt this way during my time at M&T.

Advice

For Students: Even if you're a freshman in College, don't be afraid to apply to internships. I would have never gotten my foot in the door if I never applied. Now I'm ahead of most of my peers in terms of my resume experience, and knowledge in the Computer Science field. Also if you're looking to work in technology, go to as many hackathons as you can in college. For Employers looking to hire interns: Continuously request feedback from your interns about the program, the project they're working on, and what you can do as a full time employee to make the process more enjoyable for them. You have the interns there because you want them to return, you should not make them feel like all they do is busy work that nobody else wants to do. Another thing that's probably good is to not discuss the pay for new grads unless it's lucrative, and you're going to give an actual number, you will most likely scare them away before they even consider other factors.

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Software Engineering Intern

June 2018 - May 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I loved my experience working here, especially under my manager David Hunt in Enterprise Architecture and Governance, he taught me countless things about the technology industry, best practices, culture, and even career/life development conversations that explored beyond the bounds of work, for a wholesome and overall development for his intern, and I very very much appreciated that experience, and learned a lot from it.

What I wish was different

I had to be very self motivating and self reliant on the specifics of what I had to do, what projects I'd work on, to assign myself work. M&T was and still is going through major changes so my manger was busier than usual to assign me direct tasks on a scheduled basis, so I had to come up and propose plans to work on specific projects that I thought could have a very good use in the Bank and have it approved by him. It turned out to be a very well establishment because of our two personalities, but overall, the internship then was not organized enough for structured and meaningful work for other interns from what I heard, but now it most definitely is (in 2019+).

Advice

Your primary goal in any internship is to learn as much as possible and in between that effort, to work on and produce something meaningful within that time period. Always ask questions and don't worry about the repercussions fo not knowing something. You were hired for a reason, and if asking questions in that work environment is a bad thing, don't work for that company, that would be a bad internship program. (Up to you though!)

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Credit Shared Services Intern

June - August 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I enjoyed the professional work environment and the fact that the work that I was doing was actually being used within analyst's final reports. The program included seminars with very important individuals within M&T, a required group presentation at the end of the period, and many networking opportunities.

What I wish was different

N/A

Advice

Take advantage of every single networking opportunity that it available, it really does matter in the end.

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Loan Administration Intern

May - August 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I loved the co-workers and overall work environment. I wasn't treated as an intern, I was treated like every other employee that has worked there for many years. The learning experience I had there was amazing, not only did I learn about my position in the bank I learned about many others as well. The overall experience I had was amazing.

What I wish was different

I wish it was a longer experience, but other than that I couldn't think of any other changes I'd have

Advice

Always ask questions and always be sure to be very attentive. I would also suggest this internship for anyone who is willing to apply.

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Technology Intern

June - August 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

They treat interns as a priority, amazing experience overall

What I wish was different

More structure on projects, I often felt underutilized

Advice

Talk to as many people in the company as possible, saying you're an intern will open a lot of doors in the company, they are very eager to hear from us

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Treasury management intern

June 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

Everything

What I wish was different

Nothing it was great

Advice

I highly recommend M&T as an employer

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Consumer Lending Intern

June - August 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I got hands on experience with different computer softwares and systems, including SQL and Tableau. I was also able to shadow other departments to learn about all of the opportunities within the company.

What I wish was different

I wish I had been given a few more responsibilities to do in between projects during down time.

Advice

Ask a lot of questions! Even if you don't love the department you intern in, the managers are more than happy to help you figure out a department that might be a better fit for you.

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Default Accounting Intern

June 2017 • Getzville, NY

What I liked

M&T bank was extremely flexible with my school schedule and invested in working with me to help me gain experience.

What I wish was different

Advice

Be sure to make connections with as many people you can whether they’re peers or managers. They love when interns show initiative and take an interest in working for the bank in the future.

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Technology intern

June - August 2018 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I received lots of experience in my field and was able to work in a real world environment to build not only skills for my career path but professionalism.

What I wish was different

I wish I was able to stay longer and get engaged earlier in the internship. The first few weeks were slow.

Advice

Ask lots of questions and say yes to all opportunities if possible.

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Technology Intern

June - December 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I liked how they gave each student a project that best fit their skills. I liked how helpful and caring the next gen team was. I love the direction they are going with their internships and full time software engineering jobs.

What I wish was different

Nothing, they are constantly trying to make their program better

Advice

Make sure to communicate with everyone around you. It's a lot better to understand what everyone expects of you and what your expectations are from the role.

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Technology Intern

May 2018 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

The atmosphere and community they have built in the workplace, as well as the opportunities to network and learn.

What I wish was different

Advice

1 One person found this helpful

Technology Intern

June - August 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

- The onboarding activities really let me befriend the other interns, which made my stay there a lot better. - The work I was doing was relevant to what I've been studying. - I was taught how to develop software in the scope of a business perspective, which gave me great insight on how to code in the future. - There was a team activity that allowed us interns to get to know the people in our office more. - We were able to present our work to various managers and even the CTO. - There was plenty of free food - The recruiters and HR were very receptive of the intern's opinions on the internship and their stay at M&T. They want to make sure the next internship program will be even better.

What I wish was different

- There were different offices you could be assigned to, and we only found out after we started working there, so some interns had to drive farther than anticipated. - The quality of the internship depended on where you stayed. Some offices had an open-floor plan (which they say will be more commonly used in the future) while others, like mine, had many cubicles. - Wished the internship lasted longer, they extended my stay because of RIT's requirement, but it was only 8 weeks minus 1 week for onboarding.

Advice

The internship program will only get better. Make your intentions clear of what you want to do at the job because that'll affect the team you'll be placed on.

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Technology Intern

June - August 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

M&T has a great culture, full of lots of caring people who want the best for each other and for the business. M&T is under a significant overhaul, moving all of the technology people to the new Seneca One tower. The work I did was very interesting and kept me engaged. I felt like upper management really cared about even us interns.

What I wish was different

I wish the onboarding experience could have been different. We had a good orientation, but once I got to work, I was left to kind of figure things out for myself. I didn't even see my manager for the first day. If some of the onboarding had happened before I arrived in Buffalo, I think my transition into working there would have been much smoother

Advice

Open communication is SO important. If you don't like how something is going, or you think something can be changed for the better: speak your mind!

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Corporate Financial Analyst

June - August 2018 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I like learning the professionalism within the workplace. I also enjoyed working on my analytical skills.

What I wish was different

N/A

Advice

Time management is very important and it’s a lesson I learned pretty early.

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Data Analyst Intern

June - August 2018 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

I liked the new challenges and variety in my day-to-day

What I wish was different

I wish I had people from my team in the office. Most of my team worked remotely.

Advice

Ask as many questions as you can to understand what your co-workers expect out of you.

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User Experience Designer Intern

June 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

The company culture was very inviting. It's an interesting time to work at the bank right now because they are going through a lot of internal improvements, and working hard to invest in technology and design.

What I wish was different

I think as my first internship there's nothing more that I could've asked for. I was really well taken care of, and I was excited about the projects I worked.

Advice

If you know what kind of work you want to do then speak up. Your managers and coworkers want to help you achieve your goals and they will help you if you're unsatisfied.

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Technology Intern

June - August 2019 • Buffalo, NY

What I liked

As an intern, I was given a lot of autonomy and authority in terms of bringing my project to life, including ideating, conceptualizing, designing, implementing, and testing it. M&T's company culture is stellar, and my coworkers truly made me feel like a part of the family. Each and every person in the team was ready to help me whenever they could and I never felt helpless or in the dark. In turn, I was able to make real impact and learned several technologies from scratch just over the summer — going from being clueless on day one to watching my own code being pushed into production. There was also a lot of programming for interns in the form of off-sites and organized bonding events, which gave me some life-long relationships, both among my co-interns and within my team. My summer internship at M&T Bank is one I'll never forget.

What I wish was different

Most of what I wish had been different were issues in logistics. For instance, my intern class weren't informed of what our project assignments were, who we worked with, and which office exactly we would be working until day one. Other than that, everything else was smooth.

Advice

Be proactive. Some of my co-interns didn't have a good experience, but a lot of them also weren't proactive — meaning taking the initiative to help out whenever they could, not being afraid to ASK for help, and constantly observing seniors in your team and how they work to learn from them. I came in with this mindset from the get go, which allowed me to keep and open mind and learn as much as I can!

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