The Summer Internship Experience with Assure Hedge

<h3>Surviving a Summer Internship in a Fintech in Dublin</h3><h4>Following post was written by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jcorish/">Johnny Corish</a>, a digital marketing summer intern at Assure Hedge. He had come to study for a semester at University College Dublin from Indiana University, USA.</h4><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/544/1*Fe3iYCfqz-dyYXOXpu7agQ.png" /><figcaption>John Corish interning with Assure Hedge</figcaption></figure><p><strong>Introduction to Assure Hedge</strong></p><p>My journey with Assure Hedge began in early July on an extra rainy Ireland day just one week after my arrival. Still getting used to a whole new city, I was anxious to start a new job. What would happen if I couldn’t figure out the extensive bus system and arrived late? Going into my first day, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from my role with Assure Hedge. But after completing my internship with Assure Hedge, I can confidently say that my expectations have been massively exceeded.</p><p><strong>Learning what currency hedging actually is</strong></p><p>The first week of work kicked off what would turn out to be a very steep learning curve for the next 7 weeks as, despite my finance background, I had never been exposed to currency hedging until my work with Assure Hedge. While currency hedging can be an extremely complex topic, the people in Assure Hedge found ways to make it very simple.</p><p>I found myself catching on quickly, which I attribute to the constantly dedicated explanations to my many many many questions. The availability of the guys in the Dublin office was one of the many reasons that made getting on much simpler.</p><blockquote>One mistake I’ve heard other interns make is that they’re petrified to ask questions; however, I always felt comfortable in the office to “disrupt” people for asking questions if I was confused and found they would always find a way to help me out.</blockquote><p>Taking it a step further, the same person (thankfully) who helped me would check-in later that day to ensure if I needed any further explanation.</p><p><strong>Company Culture</strong></p><blockquote>One of my favourite parts about Assure Hedge is the internal company culture.</blockquote><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*mOKSoYu2M0_fppMyQXefIQ.jpeg" /></figure><figure><img alt="" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1024/1*6M3XbEScPbRF4AokpNssYA.jpeg" /><figcaption>Some pics of the Assure Hedge office within Dogpatch Labs</figcaption></figure><p>Assure Hedge employs a diverse workforce that is friendly and welcoming. Starting with company stand-up, an exercise to ensure people are on the same page, I was constantly interacting with people throughout the company.</p><p>Similarly, different from some companies in the US was the power distance, being totally non-existent. For example, I found the CEO, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-mccarthy-a355727/">Barry McCarthy</a>, spending part of his day taking a personal interest by asking how I was doing or explaining hedging techniques to me for clear insights. All these things contributed to my comfort in the workplace allowing me to contribute my best work.</p><blockquote>Another unique part of the workforce was diversity, which I was surprised about for a company in Dublin I’ll admit.</blockquote><p>As is the case it seems in most Irish tech businesses, Assure Hedge employs multiple people from around the world, notably India, South Africa and Brazil (the BRICS). I enjoyed learning about their adventures to Ireland and their walks of life.</p><p><strong>Marketing Certifications and Relevance of Work</strong></p><p>Admittedly, internships can be boring with no meaningful work (coffees and photocopying). Although I did have the get the lunch at the board meeting! throughout my tenure, I mostly worked on multiple projects for Assure Hedge including content, partnership reach outs, and digital marketing strategy. One of the major reasons that separated my internship I felt when chatting to the other interns in our program was my overall relevance to the company.</p><p>Rather than doing the routine no-brainer tasks, I was creating documents that were used down the line in the following days and I also helped building strategies which were put in action. I 100% think that Assure Hedge gave me interactive tasks that were actively contributing to their company goals.</p><p>This gave me an increased incentive to produce my best work knowing that it would positively impact the company. Not only during my time at Assure Hedge but also at a later stage.</p><blockquote>Working for Assure Hedge also provided a lot of tangible benefits for me personally. I was able to acquire a Google Digital Marketing certification and a new perspective.</blockquote><blockquote>I have since realized how much role ‘politics’, among other variables, can play on worldwide economics and the fluctuation of currencies for their country’s GDP. This new worldwide perspective is something I gained and will bring back to how I approach business in the US.</blockquote><p><strong>Settings and Locales</strong></p><p>There is an added benefit for working at a “cool” fintech like Assure Hedge since their office is located at Dogpatch Labs in Dublin. Dogpatch Labs is a Google Startup complex which has many cool features. My favourite feature was free coffee since I am a caffeine enthusiast.</p><p>The building hosts multiple events for all companies ranging from speeches on effectiveness to yoga in the morning; both supplementary to developing mentally and professionally which aids in increasing the productivity.</p><p>Assure Hedge holds one of the bigger offices in the building, and you also have the ability to move around if you need a change of scenery since it boasts of a fabulous infrastructure.</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p><blockquote>Overall, my experience with Assure Hedge provided me with an interactive internship that created an environment that was never dull and always challenging. I was able to wake-up every morning and get on the bus — 39A packed full of Spanish students in identical yellow backpacks, knowing that I was going to be doing something that was helping the company.</blockquote><p>I believe Assure Hedge has identified a gap in their market and I look forward to following their progress on <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/assurehedge/?originalSubdomain=ie">LinkedIn </a>and <a href="https://twitter.com/assurehedge">Twitter</a> from the States!</p><img src="https://medium.com/_/stat?event=post.clientViewed&amp;referrerSource=full_rss&amp;postId=f936f66ce3ba" width="1" height="1" alt="" /><hr><p><a href="https://blog.assurehedge.com/the-summer-internship-experience-with-assure-hedge-f936f66ce3ba">The Summer Internship Experience with Assure Hedge</a> was originally published in <a href="https://blog.assurehedge.com">Assure Hedge</a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.</p>