Why did you decide to become a mentor?
I had very important mentors throughout my path, many of whom were able to point me towards a best practice for achieving something (for example, how to approach references and potential recommenders for jobs or academic programs). The value of having someone with experience walk with you through your journey is incredibly understated. Someone has learned it the hard way, so you can learn it through a hopefully “less hard way”.
Many of my mentors also came as a result of happenstance or by merit of the educational and job environment I was in. So I was privileged and fortunate. However, I am aware good mentors are not always accessible or present - and hence offering mentorship in this public, service-on-demand setting is also a way for me to pass my fortunes forward.
How did you get your career start?
My passion lies at the intersection of technology and social good, and advocating for an interdisciplinary mindset in the face of the complex challenges of our modern world. I was not always a “tech” person – in fact, my favorite subject in high school was Literature, and I studied Media and Psychology in college. However, I was always interested in how we can address the big problems in our society, and as we stepped into the big data era as a species, it was natural that I became fascinated with how to leverage it for impact.
I applied to graduate school, to a Computational Social Science program at the University of Chicago, where I was very fortunate to meet many talented individuals who were all at once working at the cutting edge of the technology world but who were also concerned with the same kind of problems that I was. Having these “indirect mentors”, and being able to interact with them on a regular basis, drawing from their passion and knowledge, was what brought me to where I am today.
What do mentees usually come to you for?
I generally provide mentees with three types of programs, depending on where they are coming from. The most common - and my specialty - is in guiding people who come from a different discipline into data analytics and data science. I personally went through that journey, and thus am very happy to pass on the tools, skills, and knowledge that I picked up along the way to others.
Mentees also sometimes come to me for specific guidance on data analytics or data science projects, be it of their own initiative, or course-based. There are many resources online and many data bootcamps out there, but a lot of them lack an important piece – feedback and guidance. This is where I come in.
Lastly, my experience with hiring technologists also allows me to provide support to individuals going through a career change or who are job-seeking. I offer mock interviews, practice assignments, resume tips, and general strategies around the job application process.
What’s been your favorite mentorship success story so far?
One of my favorite mentorship journeys is with Lonny Chen, a mentee of mine whom I got permission from to share this story. Lonny is the founder at Kinara for Youth Evolution, where he works to uplift access to education for children in less advantaged parts of the world. He first came to me for support on a project involving education data, and for advice in preparing for a master’s degree program due to start in 2023.
Through our mentorship, we not only made progress on the above goals, but as the mentorship continued and we riffed off our shared passion for social impact, we also broke ground on developing useful learning materials for programming and data analysis. These materials were applied by Lonny to some success with a group he was teaching. It was a great experience on my end to see these new ideas spring from our interactions, and I know that the mentoring process was as rewarding for me as it was for Lonny.
What are you getting out of being a mentor?
I feel that I am constantly being inspired by my mentees. I have met many folks - like Lonny - who are driven and passionate about their goals. The act of seeking out a mentor is itself a reflection of an admirable level of initiative and ambition. Being a mentor does not mean that my own journey is a done deal – often, the motivation that my mentees display also rubs off on me.
Mentoring has also been a good lesson in self-discipline, leadership, and humility. Everyone brings something to the table, and in a mentor-mentee relationship, the same applies. The mentor can provide the mentee with specific guidance on a subject, but the mentee may also teach the mentor something that the mentor did not know before. These lessons carry over into my career and day job as well.