ANZ Internship opens doors

AUT software development graduate Bailee Devey reckons career events on campus are gold, and she knows what she is talking about.

Bailee is now employed as an app tester at ANZ Technology after doing an internship there last year – an internship she found out about through attending lunchtime presentations and career fairs on campus.

She learned about the internship from a lunchtime presentation, one of a number she attended, along with the ICT Career Fair. She applied with a number of other AUT students of which four were successful in landing internships.

"I attended the presentations because I wanted to get an idea of what organisations had to offer graduates and find out about the organisations interested in AUT graduates," she explained.

The internship involved two rotations of eight weeks, one providing IT support to staff with the enterprise desktop team – the other with the ANZ GoMoney App team working alongside the testers.

Biggest challenge

Bailee says her biggest challenge was getting through the first week. A naturally shy person, she worried she’d be asking stupid questions and annoying people.

“But it is really true that there is no such thing as a stupid question! Everyone is happy to help you out and share their knowledge. You do just have to pick your time to approach people.”

The ANZ Technology internship coordinator explained at the start of the internship there was no guarantee of full time work afterwards, so Bailee felt very fortunate to be offered a job with ANZ, along with another graduate.

“My manager for the GoMoney app testing team asked me if I wanted to stay on, saying I was contributing well to the team. I was pretty pleased. I’ve realized good things come if you make the effort - so take the opportunities when you can.”

Transition from uni to workplace

Bailee adds the internship showed her that a huge part of university study is learning how to learn, rather than the specifics of what you learn.

“I knew Java but I was new to the iOS Swift language so I had to study it up and learn it as I went. That experience made me see how I had learned through study to up skill myself and not be afraid of tackling new skills.”

You also learn a lot about working in groups, even if you don’t always enjoy the experience, adds Bailee.
“Working on uni group projects helps you build the communication skills you need to work in teams in the workforce. Even though you might not want to work on group assignments, it really does help you in the workforce where you have to pull your weight and if you don’t fulfil your requirements in the team, you’re off it.”

ANZ Internship

The ANZ Technology internship is designed to give final year tertiary students an opportunity to be part of a large corporate technology environment and experience working in different areas of technology, explains Jo Batchelor, ANZ Business Technology Partner. 

She is looking for interns who have initiative, willingness to learn, and are collaborative and good communicators.

“You will stand out if you are prepared to have a conversation about yourself and your capabilities, interests and skills, and don’t just treat the event as a time to ask about internships or graduate programme opportunities.