Hot FinTech Summer
Despite the challenges posed by a global pandemic, all of Duke’s FinTech students found fantastic summer internships
With the pandemic pushing most summer internships into online positions, competition for coveted landing spots was higher than ever this year. While true for any industry, it was an especially challenging time for students looking for internships in the quickly rising field of financial technology (FinTech). Since Duke’s FinTech master’s program requires an internship, it is understandable that students stress about securing a top-notch position.
But as it turns out, they needn’t have worried.
“Not only did all of our students find internships in this challenging year, but they all also found awesome ones,” said Jimmie Lenz, an executive-in-residence at Duke Engineering and the director of the Duke Financial Technology Master of Engineering program. “There was about twice the demand as there were available students. It just shows that the best companies out there are really eager to work with our students.”
From money management to FinTech, the internships spanned various sectors of finance. And from one of the largest insurance agencies in China (Ping An)—and thus, the world—to the investment office that handles Duke’s $23 billion portfolio (DUMAC, Inc.), they also spanned the globe.
Learn more about the FinTech summer internship experience below from three of the students themselves:
Diana Li
From: Hunan, China
Undergrad: The Ohio State University
Major: Finance
Why did you choose to enroll in Duke’s FinTech program?
I choose to enroll in Duke’s FinTech program is because FinTech is a growing industry that I am really interested in, and I want to gain technical skills and hands-on experience in FinTech. Duke Engineering provides a hard-core curriculum that could pave the way for my future career.
Where did you conduct your internship this summer?
This summer, I had an internship in Ping An Technology, a sub-company of Ping An Group. Ping An, a technology-powered Personal Financial Services Group, is rising on Fortune’s List and is currently 29th. Ping An Technology is committed to leveraging AI, the cloud and other cutting-edge technologies to enable five ecosystems of finance, healthcare, automobiles, real estate and smart cities. There are about 6,000 IT professionals and management experts in this sub-company.
What project(s) have you been working on during your internship?
I interned as a product manager in the big data machine learning department. The project that I have been working on is a telemarketing system. We are building a middle platform to collect and monitor the data for over 10 sub-companies under Ping An Group and leverage AI to generate phone calls or text messages for potential customers.
What are some of the most important things you’ve learned or taken away from the internship experience?
The most important thing that I have learned from my internship is that communication is crucial, especially working for a such big project that has 10 companies involved. Within my department, not only do we have colleagues who are experts in coding, machine learning, and other IT technologies, we also have coworkers from the business side who may not have a deep understanding of their terminologies. Since I’m sort of the middle person between them, one of my jobs is to connect with them and help them better express and understand the needs of each other. In this case, effective communication enhances the efficiency within the team. It makes sure everyone on the team is on the same page, which saves a lot of time to not have to explain things to different people over and over again.
What are some of the most important things you’ve learned or taken away from the internship experience?
During this internship, I gained hands-on experience on how algorithms sharpen the finance industry. And I gained a clearer understanding of the position of product manager, its obligation and the daily routine.
How has the internship experience affected your plans for after graduation?
The experience has confirmed to me that this is a job that I am really passionate about.
Noah Flaniken
From: Indianapolis
Undergrad: Miami University of Ohio
Major: Mechanical Engineering, with minors in Actuarial Science and French
Why did you choose to enroll in Duke’s FinTech program?
When I graduated, I went to work for JPMorgan Chase as an infrastructure engineer in the mainframe space and I worked there for four years. Just over a year ago, I started at Duke in the Master’s of Engineering in FinTech program. I decided to enroll in the program because I enjoyed technology and wanted to stay in that area, but I also wanted to learn more about the business side of the financial services industry.
Where did you conduct your internship this summer?
This summer I interned with a company called Apiture. They are about three years old and started as a joint venture between Live Oak Bank and a company called First Data, where Apiture’s first product originated from.
What project(s) have you been working on during your internship?
Apiture has two sides to its business, but the side I worked on is called its Xpress platform. The Xpress platform builds online and mobile banking solutions for small- to medium-size financial institutions. Apiture wanted to leverage the data that their bank clients have to deliver actionable insights that the banks could use to grow their business. As a new service, I was tasked with identifying the FI’s needs, figuring out what insights we could answer today and possibly in the future, and how we could deliver these insights to the FI’s.
What are some of the most important things you’ve learned or taken away from the internship experience?
Throughout the internship, I learned a lot about developing a new product or service, and I also gained an immense amount of knowledge about the banking industry and the technology behind it all.
How has the internship experience affected your plans for after graduation?
I know that after the program I want to continue to strategize about how to use technology and analytics to deliver added value to the finance sector.
Olivia Shen
From: Fuzhou, China
Undergrad: Washington and Lee University
Major: Economics with a minor in mathematics
Why did you choose to enroll in Duke’s FinTech program?
I chose Duke for my master’s degree in FinTech because of its worldwide reputation as well as the strong alumni network.
Where did you conduct your internship this summer?
My internship was at DUMAC Inc., which is the investment office that manages a $23 billion portfolio of investments on behalf of Duke University, Duke Health System, Duke Employees Retirement Plan, and the Duke Endowment. DUMAC’s investment performance consistently ranks near the top of its peer group (Yale, Harvard, Stanford, etc.).
What project(s) have you been working on during your internship?
I participated in a bunch of virtual meetings and Zoom calls with world-renowned investment managers. I also conducted a research project on Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), to analyze the impact and reasons behind this growing phenomenon.
What are some of the most important things you’ve learned or taken away from the internship experience?
I helped assist in the identification, evaluation, selection and monitoring of investment opportunities. I also Interviewed investment managers, performed due diligence and recommended new investments. It’s interesting to learn from best-of-class investment managers from all over the world. I also attended an annual meeting and lots of investment conferences. I was able to perform qualitative and quantitative analyses to evaluate and compare opportunities, risks, and performance of the current portfolio.
How has the internship experience affected your plans for after graduation?
Upon graduating from Duke, I aspire to work in a world-leading asset management firm doing investment management.