Having initially joined the internship programme, Yuming quickly got a taste of the Barclays mindset and culture. When the opportunity to join the graduate programme came up, he relocated to Radbroke to start his journey. With a background in computer science, he enjoys the practical applications that come with a career in the industry - as well as the impact he can have in his role.
Making a difference from day one
Yuming’s career at Barclays wasn’t always clear from the outset. When he first graduated from university, he wasn’t certain whether he wanted to enter the world of technology, or finance. The Barclays graduate programme was so attractive because it gave him the opportunity to explore all of his interests, and do impactful work right from the start.
Currently in his first rotation, Yumming is working for the data science team, which involves a wide range of tasks from analysing data sets to helping to optimise existing infrastructure and messaging frameworks.
It's really interesting and also seeing how you're able to create an actual impact on software that everybody or people would use. It's really gratifying.
The Barclays mindset
Having heard a bit about the Barclays mindset before he joined, Yuming quickly understood that it’s used on an almost daily basis. One of the mindsets he personally resonated with was ‘stewardship’ - the idea of ‘leaving things better than when you found them’. Whether it was a small update to processes, or a larger change to an internal system, his team would always look to make small tweaks that automated operational and menial tasks.
A diverse and inclusive team
Before he arrived at Barclays, Yuming wasn’t aware of the scale of the bank from an operational perspective. With that scale comes truly cross border teams, working on different time zones, with a variety of cultural backgrounds. His own team includes colleagues who work in Pune, India, all the way to Prague, London and of course New York.
For Yuming, he found it fascinating watching people look through different innate cultural lenses but at the same problems, exploring the solutions that could be found through such diverse points of view.
Collaborating with a broad set of teams is just really interesting when it comes to getting different perspectives.
Joining the graduate programme
For Yuming, having easy access to experts and mentors in his role has been an invaluable part of his learning experience. He’s enthusiastic about the rotation programme, especially because it allows individuals at the beginning of their careers to learn from different people in diverse teams, and get exposure to different leadership styles and mentors along the way.
I think it's really a great place for you to start your career because you get to explore so many different areas at the same time, and you just get so much exposure from experts in all kinds of fields. Early in your career, you want to learn from the best people.