"Mentorship lets you apply knowledge"
Why did you decide to become a mentor?
Hi, Thank you for this opportunity to be a part of MentorCruise and the interview, I am humbled!
I have always loved interacting with people, sharing my knowledge, learnings and experiences with them and in similar ways, getting to know more insights from them. Because I believe when you teach/mentor someone, you yourself go deeper to understand those concepts and this makes you more confident about all your life learnings.
Mentorship helps you develop your ability to motivate and encourage others as you get to challenge your thinking all the time, and you get to apply your knowledge to different situations that you might not come across in your own career path. Moreover, seeing your mentee succeed as a result of your input is a reward in itself.
Last year, in 2020, I came across MentorCruise and I really loved the idea of connecting people worldwide across different time zones. With this, I am able to reach out to a larger audience and contribute to their growth and career development.
How did you get your career start?
To be honest, I couldn’t get campus placement despite being University Topper and a Gold Medalist in academics due to being a diploma holder rather than having a XIIth degree. But I never gave up hope and I had persistent encouragement from my parents.
During my last semester, I got an internship opportunity to work on an Android application. I was captivated by how mobile applications are developed and anything you code, you can just see it live in front of you on your smartphone. I found Android tools very intuitive to use and easy to learn. I started loving Android and now It’s been more than 6 years and I am still besotted with Mobile development.
And, with all my passion and dedication for Android, what could be a better place to work with other than Google itself. So I am a Googler now :)
"It's our responsibility to help with career growth"
How do you usually set up mentorships?
I don’t take mentorship as an earning source, I take this as a responsibility to help someone with their career growth.
I look at the goals that a mentee wants to achieve. Goals can be related to levelling up skills to find a good job opportunity or getting a deeper understanding of technology.
I prepare monthly and quarter plans according to their objective. Not all mentees have the same level of understanding, knowledge and experience, so I talk and discuss with them their strengths and weaknesses. We together follow a practical hands-on approach to work on weak points. I usually review their code, share my learnings about the latest technology and framework.
I usually adapt myself to mentees needs and goals. I keep sharing resources with them to learn from.
Discussing my own success and failures is as important as guiding them for a bright future. It surely helps them gain more confidence about themselves.
What’s been your favourite mentorship story so far?
It’s very difficult to choose one. I have and am enjoying each one of them.
The best thing from all would be the trust and confidence mentees have had on me during their mentorship. Few have gotten a good job opportunity and few have started their own freelancing career. What could be a better reward or satisfaction than seeing them achieving their goals. So, all of them have become my favorite :)
What are you getting out of being a mentor?
Mentoring enhances your skills. It allows you to strengthen your coaching and leadership skills by working with individuals from different backgrounds and with different personality types. Mentoring can give you a fresh perspective on your performance.
I believe there is no better way to assimilate knowledge than through teaching. By passing this knowledge on to a novice, I clarify and imbibe those lessons within myself.
Mentorship has always helped me in improving my focus, meeting new people and understanding their perspective. New perspectives lead to fresh ideas, and who knows where fresh ideas could lead you?
Also, We all once had a teacher, a coach or a manager who said or did something that changed the trajectory of our life? I believe this is my chance to do that for someone else. At the end of the day, I wish to be gratified to know that I have somehow contributed to the success of someone.
The knowledge you foster in your mentee can inspire new ideas for generations to come. Most of us long for a legacy, some stake in the future that says, “I was here.” What better legacy than to be a part of shaping tomorrow’s leaders? :)