Join Mentors in Tech for Year 3 in 3 Ways

Hello again LinkedIn Friends!

A couple of years ago I built a new program called Mentors in Tech (MinT) that helps overlooked tech students at smaller, less well known, accessible and affordable colleges navigate and launch their careers. Majority of our students are what academia would call “non-traditional”, because they have had work, military, parental, or other lived experiences not typical of younger “traditional” college students. The students I have gotten to known reflect the incredibly unique strengths and diverse backgrounds that represents the best of American values in their commitment to hard work and resilience.???

There are 3 ways for you and /or your organization to be involved and give our students the opportunity to work with a mentor, gain industry experience, and build social capital:

• Become a mentor for the upcoming 2022-23 school year, max ~1 hour per week commitment. Watch the new mentor info session? and apply to be a mentor.
• Your company can be an industry capstone partner and work with a team of 4 students on a project. The mentor will require 2 hours a week commitment, and the company will commit to program participation that includes student stipends and fees. Watch short MinT capstone video.
• Your organization can also partner with us to hire from our student and alumni pool for a wide range of technical roles that can utilize our students’ unique strengths and backgrounds.

Thanks to so many of you who took a few hours out of your busy schedules every month to help with your students overcome the final hurdle in becoming a tech professional. Building successful mentor relationships takes training, skill, and care, and even more so in a year that included industry shifts, evolving work from home requirements, and a continued need for flexibility and empathy. Together, our work has been recognized by the Community College Baccalaureate Association as one of the 20 Promising Practices to Advance Quality, Equity and Success.

MinT Program 2021-22 School Year Impact:

Our mentors’ impact this year is incredibly impressive. Despite scheduling challenges, illnesses, return to office and business travel and changing industry conditions, mentors and mentees completed thousands of hours of 1:1 meetings, and with your guidance mentees submitted 3,000+ applications, had 260+ interviews (1 out of 12 applications), and received 65+ offers (1 out of 4 interviews). More students are landing opportunities as we speak during the summer and beyond.

• 94% of mentees feel confident in their ability to successfully transition from student to tech professional
• 92% of mentee respondents said that their mentor interactions met or exceeded their expectations
• 3 most important things mentees said they received from the mentoring experience:
• General advice and sounding board from someone in tech
• ?Built a long-term mentoring relationship
• General interview questions from someone who’s been there before

What the students said about our mentors:

• “The one-on-one pairing with mentors was by far the most useful asset I’ve had over the past 9 months.”
• “Thank you for providing the opportunity to meet with someone within the tech industry on a regular basis.”
• “Y'all are so great at what you do and providing information to students trying to get their foot in the door in the tech industry.”

What college faculty say about our mentors:

• “I appreciate that the mentors take the time to get to know each of our students in the program and provide personalized career advice for each student.”
• “Through rough academic quarters, personal issues, job hunt challenges, and yes, the pandemic, these students have been able to maintain both their studies and their career pursuits. The continual support from their mentors is crucial to their success.”
• “MinT mentors are a bridge to help open doors to opportunities by supporting students in navigating internship/job/career search activities as well as fostering a culture of belonging. I have heard from multiple students who shared that through conversations with their mentors that they felt like they could see themselves having a career and a place to belong in tech.”