Harold Park – Meet the Mentor

Why did you decide to become a mentor?

I thrive in collaborative environments where I can help resolve my teammates' blockers. At an early point in my career, I was given a role as a mentor to help struggling junior engineers escape termination and grow into self-sufficient engineers, which left me wanting more in my subsequent roles. I started working part-time as a Mentor at Springboard, a boot camp where I helped people with non-tech backgrounds get their feet in the door in the tech industry. After some time, I discovered ADPList and Mentorcruise, which are helping me expand my reach as a tech mentor. I'm reveling in this positive and fulfilling work helping aspiring software engineers succeed!

How did you get your career start?

My background in tech is atypical. I graduated with a Bachelor's in Biological Sciences from George Washington University and aimlessly planned on attending pharmacy school. I got a great score on the PCAT and prepared to apply to schools when it dawned on me that I had only picked Biology in my undergraduate years because my parents wanted me to go into the medical field and I didn't know what other major to do. The gravity of taking out loans and going back to school for 3+ years hit me, and that's when I decided to pursue a teaching credential. After shadowing high school teachers, I became highly disillusioned about the education industry. This is when my friend recommended I try coding. I tried out a course on Codecademy, loved it, went further to take a C programming class at a community college, where I won awards at a robotics competition, and loved it even more. The procedural logic of code just made sense to me, and I decided coding was what I wanted to do for a career. I went on to take on a 60-hour-per-week intensive JavaScript boot camp at Makersquare LA. It was a transformative experience; I learned so much I met the coolest, most intelligent people who continue to inspire me today. I struggled to get my foot in the industry door out of boot camp, but after months of searching, I was able to get an internship. From there, I was able to get a few more years of experience under my belt before I was able to get a job at a government tech agency, which I consider to be the best job I've ever had. There, I got to meet great mentors who had a positive influence on shaping my mentoring philosophies today. I just want to say to everyone that if I can do it, you can do it too.

What do mentees usually come to you for?

My job is to support you, not just with industry technical knowledge, but also with empathy and awareness of sustainability. To facilitate my goal of shaping my mentees into self-efficient engineers, I strive to create a safe learning environment where my mentees are free to express their minds without judgment. I’ll suggest tasks in pair programming, project-based learning, job search preparation, and other enrichment activities that will guide you to achieve your goals. We’ll use Trello to simulate an agile team environment, and we’ll set up a timeline to keep you accountable. Most of my mentees are fresh graduates and people from non-tech backgrounds who want to get their start in the tech industry. A few of my mentees already have a tech job but want to transition to an adjacent role or to a different company entirely. All of them are awesome.

What's been your favourite mentorship success story so far?

My favorite mentorship story comes from Springboard, where I worked with a former punk rock band member who is now a music producer. It seemed like we were at opposite poles of what we wanted to be; I had long been drawn to music production, while my mentee wanted a more stable career working with code. I could see that this mentee was very bright and brought a lot of interesting perspectives as a creative. He not only excelled academically but also was socially aware and adept at networking, landing a freelance gig at a networking event even before he completed his boot camp. Last I heard, he’s been able to land interviews despite the dismal job market. When our mentorship formally ended, we entered a barter deal to independently start a two-way mentorship, where I further added to my mentee's technical knowledge while he taught me music production. It's amazing the kind of connections we can make through mentorship.

What are you getting out of being a mentor?

With a teaching/tutoring background, I find deep fulfillment in helping others reach lightbulb moments. Mentoring satisfies my desire to empower those in need. I owe much to mentorship. I was lucky to come across some excellent mentors in my career who shaped the foundation of my mentorship philosophy and inspired me to pay it forward. Each mentor session, whether giving or receiving, has strengthened my confidence, empathy, and communication skills, helping me grow into a stronger leader. Having been burnt out from my software engineering career because of horrible leadership, mentorship gives me a chance to restore my passion for tech by focusing on its people -- helping others grow while practicing the compassionate leadership that was largely missing in my career.