Aidan Flood

I found out about Baillie Gifford when some recent interns gave a presentation at my university. They spoke so passionately about how positive their experience at the company had been and explained how they had put their lab and theory work to practice in a real business environment. I was also able to join a student visit to Baillie Gifford’s Data Centre and was amazed that we had the opportunity to see their servers and how the technology behind the scenes worked. They made us feel really welcome, and I chatted with many of the department heads.

I was quite nervous when I started at Baillie Gifford, as I’ve not had much professional work experience before, but they take you under their wing. For example, during my induction I had a series of one-to-one meetings with the team managers across the Information Systems departments to help understand everyone’s roles. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in various projects of my own, including handling a server upgrade and taking responsibility for Zoom.

Since joining, one of my jobs has been to help set up equipment in a new area of the office, and I have also worked on a project to ensure the firm’s MacBooks remained compliant and functional within the business. I’ve been treated as any other staff member through my time here and given the responsibility and trust to take on important tasks. Along with this, the training and support I’ve received have been outstanding.

As I’ve moved through the placement rotations, everyone has made a real effort to make me feel part of the team. For example, in my first week with the firm, I was given a ticket to the TEDx conference in Glasgow. About 15 of us from across the department attended. I also went to the Service Desk away day, during which we discussed how improvements could be made to our service, took part in team-building exercises and completed an escape room. Spending time within different teams also allows you to build strong relationships across the department.