Opal

???MENTOR SPOTLIGHT ?? Meet Rania Ansari, Site Reliability Engineer at Bay Area startup Graphiant and one of the amazing mentors in our recent GEM Program for Software Engineers ?????? Rania credits her interest in mentoring to her interest in engineering: “Why did we become engineers in the first place? For most of us,?curiosity?and a?desire?for deeper learning led us down this path. Mentorship is the map that guides us. We are all explorers at heart, so we're?all?ready to become mentors or mentees when we decide to.” On the surface, mentorship is a one-way street where mentees reap the benefits of learning from an amazing mentor. While that’s part of our hope, we’re grateful for mentors like Rania who understand the necessity of considering mentorship a two-way street. Rania reflects “Reaching our team goal would be difficult if we didn’t work together. I think the best way to achieve that is through open communication, empathy, and collaboration. This all builds on having a clear-cut goal and success metrics outlined before the program starts.” We’re fans of mentors who love rooting for their mentees! Before the program began, Rania stated “I'm excited to learn from my mentee! Their experiences would differ from mine, so I'm interested in learning more about how their experiences have shaped their journey thus far.” Thank you to Rania for joining our GEM Program! ?? Join us today ???https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp #mentee #mentor #mentorshipprogram #brightertogether

To students or job-seekers ?? ??JOIN OUR RESUME BOOKLET ? When you join our community, you’ll also have the opportunity to join our Resume Booklet. We share the booklet with partners & recruiters looking to hire and reach out to folks from our community. ?? Join the community today ???https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp #mentorship #brightertogether #resume

Mentors make our Opal-verse go ‘round, so we’re sharing the 3 ways to mentor with us ?? ??PART 3: MENTOR IN AN UPCOMING GEM PROGRAM ? We host 4-week virtual mentorship programs for people with various job roles, industries, and interests. Our programs are typically focused in some way (i.e. Software Engineers, Product Managers, Designers, Marketers, etc.), but we’re always open to program theme requests! We recruit for and host programs based on our mentor availability. How it works: 1???Apply to join the community today https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp 2???Join one of our upcoming GEM Programs 3???Connect with a mentee, learn, and grow ?? This is for you if: ??You’re interested in mentoring but don’t have the bandwidth for a long-term program. ??You want to join an accessible, welcoming community where everyone can join and receive mentorship for free. ??You had a complex career journey and want to help the next generation navigate their journey. ??You want to mentor, but there are no communities that you feel supported by or included in. ??You love to meet new people! As long as you’re interested in mentoring, we invite you to apply to join our directory, no matter your job role. Our community is not tech-specific! We’ll recruit mentees based on our mentor availability. ?? #mentorship #mentor #brightertogether

Mentors make our Opal-verse go ‘round, so we’re sharing the 3 ways to mentor with us ?? ??PART 2: BECOME A SUPER MENTOR ?? Our community includes students & industry professionals interested in connecting for professional development, often through mentorship. We like to define “mentorship” broadly at Opal to be inclusive in all the ways our community members give back, including within our Slack community. As a Super Mentor with us, you’ll interact with community members, share insights, and answer relevant questions to you via Slack. ?? How it works: 1???Apply to join the community today https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp 2???Join the channels that are calling to you 3???Connect with the community This is for you if: ??You’re interested in mentoring, but not sure how to get started and don’t want to commit to a program. ??You want to join an accessible, welcoming community where everyone can join and receive mentorship for free. ??You had a complex career journey and want to help the next generation navigate their journey. ??You want to mentor, but there are no communities that you feel supported by or included in. ??You love to meet new people! As long as you’re interested in mentoring, we invite you to apply to join our directory, no matter your job role. Our community is not tech-specific! We’ll recruit mentees based on our mentor availability. ?? #mentorship #mentor #brightertogether

Mentors make our Opal-verse go ‘round, so we’re sharing the 3 ways to mentor with us ?? ??PART 1: JOIN OUR MENTOR DIRECTORY ? Our Mentor Directory is accessible to Opal community members only, which is mostly comprised of students, early-career and mid-career folks. How it works: 1???Join the community: https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp 2???Provide your directory details 3???Connect with the community This is for you if: ??You’re interested in mentoring, but not sure how to get started. ??You want to join an accessible, welcoming community where everyone can join and receive mentorship for free. ??You had a complex career journey and want to help the next generation navigate their journey. ??You want to mentor, but there are no communities that you feel supported by or included in. ??You love to meet new people! As long as you’re interested in mentoring, we invite you to apply to join our directory, no matter your job role. Our community is not tech-specific! We’ll recruit mentees based on our mentor availability. ?? #mentorship #mentor #brightertogether

???MENTOR SPOTLIGHT ?? Meet Apurva Singh, Senior Software Engineer at Meta and one of the amazing mentors in our GEM Program for Software Engineers ?????? Apurva’s been both a mentee and mentor, and she believes that mentors can “have [a] real-world impact by empowering others through guidance, support, skill development & empathy”. From her own positive experiences as a mentee, she felt ready to pay it forward through our GEM Program as a mentor. Apurva highlights critical aspects of a successful mentorship ?? ??establish clear goals ??create a safe space for communication ??listen actively & provide actionable feedback ??evaluate progress regularly Like many of our mentors, Apurva understands that our 4-week programs don’t necessarily mean 4-week mentorship; connections can be made forever with the right amount of effort. She hopes to “foster meaningful connections that extend beyond the mentorship program!” Thank you to Apurva for joining our GEM Program and Mentor Directory! ?? Join us today ???https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp #mentor #mentorshipprogram #brightertogether

Let’s make it official ?? Our Opal community is a safe space to learn, grow, and connect with other humans for professional development. Whether you participate in our 4-week GEM Programs, peruse the Mentor Directory, or want to be first-to-know about events & updates, there’s a space for everyone. The Perks ???Gettin’ chatty: we’ll invite you to join our Slack for exclusive updates, events, mentorship, and resources. ???Mentorship: we’re all about connecting people for professional growth. There are several ways to connect with mentors or mentees within our community. ???Events & workshops: our goal is to provide relevant events and workshops to help you grow professionally. ???Share your expertise: host an event or join us on the Shine a Light On podcast Come chat with us to learn more ??https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp #mentorship #mentorshipprogram #community

???MENTOR SPOTLIGHT ?? Meet Chelsea Villanueva, #Microsoft consultant and one of the amazing mentors in our GEM Program for Software Engineers ?????? Chelsea’s not new to mentorship and leadership, as she led retreats in high school, connected with prospective students in college and now meets with mentees for short coffee chats. Despite enjoying these short calls, Chelsea’s looking forward to connecting with a mentee for a longer program rather than a single call. She reflects: “I have sought out mentorship and find it incredibly rewarding to learn from others who have had different experiences and can help me through my unknown.?I?would love to pay it forward and help someone in the unknown.” Chelsea considers a successful mentorship as “an ever-changing conversation revolving around compassion, encouragement, and problem-solving”, with an effort from both the mentor and mentee to keep the conversation going. We’re lucky to have Chelsea as part of our Opal community! Join us today ???https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp #mentorshipprogram #mentor #softwareengineering

???MENTOR SPOTLIGHT ?? Meet Story DeWeese, Technical Marketing Engineer at Cisco and one of the awesome mentors in our GEM Program for Software Engineers. Story’s here to mentor others and create a safe space to grow, inspired by the mentors she’s had in the past and her passion for uplifting other women & non-binary people in technical roles. She reflects: “A successful mentorship is one?where both parties have a growth mindset to learn from one another and share their experiences.?The best way to reach that goal is to be open and vulnerable while encouraging and building one another up!” Mentors like Story make our Opal world go round and our hearts full. ?? Join us today ???https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp #mentorship #mentor #mentorshipprogram

Our current mentorship program for Software Engineers has taken off! ?? Shoutout to a few of our program participants featured here: ?? Story DeWeese ?? Chelsea Villanueva ?? Ivy Zhuang ?? Shivani Raj ?? Adaya Head ?? Afsana Bhuiyan ?? Ariana S. ?? Jigyasa Gupta ?? Rania Ansari We’ll highlight some of our participants and their stories over the next few weeks. Want to request a program or join our community? ?? Request a program ???https://lnkd.in/gVyTVZtx Join our community today ???https://lnkd.in/gkGb5BWp #mentorship #mentorshipprogram #mentor #mentee #brightertogether