BSc Management Science student and programme Unibuddy Anna Tran recently attended the Mastercard x Pride Insights Day in Angel Lane, London. Offering second-year undergraduate students the opportunity to explore a range of exciting career paths within the tech/payments space, the event also demonstrated the ways in which Mastercard hopes to create a safe space for all of its employees.

In this blog, Anna takes us through the Mastercard x Pride Insights Day, including her experience of the Mastercard Technology Experience room and the opportunities she received to network with fellow students from a range of UK-based universities.

the mastercard x pride insights day

Thanks to the BSc Management Science Career Team, I had the opportunity to participate in the Mastercard x Pride Insights Day event at the Mastercard Experience Centre in Angel Lane, London. Throughout the day, we had a chance to understand Mastercard’s culture and how the company supports its employees daily. The special part of the event was the introduction to the Pride community in Mastercard. It is not just only a group of LGBTQUIA + people, but this is a real community where everyone gathers and inspires meaningful interactions through activities such as book discussions with writers, annual outdoor trips, or social events for the LGBTQ+ community.

On top of that, we were also shown the Mastercard Technology Experience room, which was so amazing. They illustrated how instant card payments and products from Mastercard work, and how they evaluate and score each transaction among their millions of transactions. Mastercard is neither a bank nor a financial or consulting company - Mastercard is in fact a technology company. 

Another reason I thoroughly enjoyed the day was because we also enjoyed networking events in the Mastercard Experience Centre, with students from different universities in the UK, such as Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, and Manchester University. About 15 employees at Mastercard were also in a networking event, which was the golden opportunity for me to ask about career advice, life at Mastercard, how they connect people in the community, or what skills they think the most important for their current role/job.

These Insight Days operated by big companies such as Mastercard and Nomura really help me to understand the many different aspects of companies and firms, as well as how they operate and treat employees. It was also great to hear the advice on job applications from current employees that will support future career opportunities. I normally connect with the employees I meet on LinkedIn afterwards and, if I have any questions, they are usually very happy to answer.

I would definitely encourage first-year students to attend these events to gain more experience in professional environments. It’s also a great opportunity to think about what they expect from future talents and employees in addition to their skills. I would also recommend signing up for newsletters from the companies that you are interested in to enable notifications from insight days and job opportunities. Got questions about the event? Feel free to send me a message via the Unibuddy platform.

Find out more about the BSc Management Science programme at UCL School of Management.