Hi everyone,
Seeing a lot of people share their summer internship experiences, and having a ton of free time in the last week before my next semester kicks off, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and do the same.
I have completed my 8 week long internship at Optiver, and the internship was quite a journey. It was intense, while being fun at the same time. I learnt the fundamentals of finance and macroeconomics, the theory that goes into pricing options, before starting to trade in a simulated environment. I worked on open ended research problems that could potentially make a real impact to the way how Optiver trades. The whole learning experience was made smoother by my trainers and mentors Chris, Joe, Max, Jasper, Adam, Dohun, Nik, Georgios and many others.
The internship was an overall package, with the simulated trading forcing me to think and make decisions at the blink of an eye, whereas the research problems allowed me to break the problem into smaller, more tractable problems, and analysing them in multiple possible ways. The practice of self reflection at the end of each day, and setting a goal for the next day was a very nice way of improving a little each day, which compounded over the full period made a noticeable difference. This is something that I would love to take from the internship into my personal life, setting small achievable goals which result in consistent improvement.
The thing I liked the most about Optiver is how everyone has a different role in the company and a different approach to trading, and the people respect and value each other's roles and work. The most prominent example for this was how all the trainers had a different approach to the same problem. While some of them had a very intuitive style of reasoning, others had a methodical aura around them, with the decisions being made with utmost care and thought, and there were yet other trainers whom you could always rely on whenever stuck on a theoretical problem. It is like all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle coming together to form the full pipeline, and the reason that such a setting is very valuable is that I could find the right spot for myself in the pipeline with the skills that I possess.
I also made a lot of connections with people from around the world, which I hope will last for a long time. During the weekends, I explored the streets of Amsterdam with my co-interns. I also got a chance to visit some of the other European countries, including but not limited to France, Belgium and Spain.
This was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I feel lucky to be a part of the 2024 summer intern cohort at Optiver. I think I made the most out of the internship, developing both professionally and personally. The fact that I got a return offer to work at the Mumbai office was an added cherry on the top.
Cheers!
#Internship #CareersatOptiver #OptiverAmbassador
Intern at Angelone Broking & Graphic Designer
10mobhumikaboricha2303@gmail.com