The career mentoring adventure of 2020
I don’t think any of us really expected 2020 to turn out the way that it did. But in the midst of the great suffering that our entire world has gone through in the pressure cooker of sheltering in place due to COVID-19, glimmers of hope and connection have been shining through.
For me, it started in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. People all around the world were reeling from the senseless death and the evidence of police brutality. People were coming to grips with their own internalized racism and the structures of racism that existed. And people were feeling helpless because there seemed to be no actionable way to improve things. In the midst of fighting a monster we couldn’t see, there was another monster in the room rearing its ugly head.
And then this tweet went viral in my circles:
I forwarded the tweet to my colleagues and alumni at Adobe, and many of us jumped in. At the time that I responded, there were a thousand people from across the Internet that were willing to be a resource; the list grew to three times as much. I figured there would be a slim chance that anyone wanted to reach out to me for mentorship.
I was wrong.
Five months later, I’m still meeting regularly with a half dozen of the people who reached out to me originally. And similar to my experience as a martial arts mentor, I learned much more about myself and about the world around me as a result. Five months in, I’m going to provide some generalizations about what I’ve learned about this pool of young talent and what they have, as a group, needed.
But I want to begin by saying that the people I’ve been talking to have been, as a whole, incredibly diverse. The people I’ve been talking to have been all across the spectrum of under-represented minorities: neurotypical and atypical, disabled, second generation immigrant, Black, college educated (and not), and Latinx. Some have been the first in their family to go to college. Some are the first in their families to enter into tech.
But despite the breadth of experience, there are still general things that I’ve found myself saying or actions I’ve been taking that is showing me what under-represented minorities might need more broadly in order to enter into the tech workforce.
Caveat: They don’t need “help”
I wanted to start out by saying each person I talked to has had what it takes to be successful in tech. They’re smart, have an incredible work ethic, are curious about the world, humble, and generous. Some of them navigated the complex process of getting into college by themselves because their parents didn’t have the context to help them. Some of them are in boot camps or other post-secondary certificates, seeking additional skills and make plans detailing how to learn what they don’t know.
To a person, each one has already proven to me that they have the basic building blocks to be successful; they just don’t know how to get from where they are to where they want to be. Some of them are still in the same process of self-discovery that all of us go through. Many of them are mature beyond their years due to their formative experiences.
I am impressed by each one of them and constantly am humbled that these amazing people have invited me into their lives as a mentor. They have plans and are doing everything in their power to make that happen.
#1 They need encouragement
The single most thing that each one of my mentees has needed has been encouragement. I’m not the type of person to give false praise; I cheer progress when I’m teaching martial arts. But each one of the people I talk to bring different strengths to the table, and needed to be seen for what they bring.
Encouragement looks like identifying their “special sauce” — what makes them uniquely suited for a particular role. Reframing their struggles as a strength is one way that I’ve encouraged my mentees. For instance, one of my mentees is in the midst of a career switch and has dug in deep technically. If he doesn’t know something, he finds where he can learn more about it, and spends the time to dig deep and absorb. I don’t think I’ve met such an intentional learner for quite a long time, and I know that single skill of independently pursuing a subject deeply will take him far.
And often, it’s validation that their dreams aren’t out of reach, and validation that they can. One of my mentees already has the skills to get into her dream job, and encouragement just looks like pointing out what she already does and how to apply that to the next role.
#2 They need context
As someone in mid-career, I often forget that wisdom from lived experience is gold. As someone who is only four years into product management, I still think of myself as relatively new to the field. But my years as an engineer all contribute to my overall experience in the corporate world, which is substantial.
For people without the scaffolding of family already in the corporate world, what they need is a more experienced, outside voice to help them navigate through unknown waters. I often get questions about what’s normal or what’s acceptable, just to help them validate that an approach isn’t considered rude or unacceptable. What is as natural to me as breathing can be a source of anxiety for someone else, and being a sounding board for these types of questions provides context for someone else.
The other thing that my mentees have needed is someone who deeply understands the myriad paths to success and help them find which one matches their own strengths and desires. One mentee wanted to know what the different roles were in a software company, and I spent some time describing the software development process and the different people who help make a release possible. It was all brand new to him, and the conversation gave him more context to help him identify which direction he wanted to go with his career.
#3 They need access
Access to people is a big roadblock for people who don’t already have connections within the tech industry. As someone who has been in the industry for years, my LinkedIn profile is filled with people I’ve worked with before and who have gone on to work at other major tech companies. But if you’re the first in your family to go to college and don’t know anyone in tech, how do you even begin to knock on those doors, much less open them?
One of the things I was able to bring to my mentees was access to my network. I connected some of my mentees with colleagues or former colleagues to give them the breadth of conversations they needed to be able to get a feel for what the industry was like, what hiring managers were looking for, and what skills one would need to be able to succeed. I’ve also tapped into my network to help me coach others for things like interview skills.
A lot of times, my mentees just don’t know what they don’t know, so I’ve also connected them with conferences, resources, and local professional groups to help them get access to the right people to guide them along their path. And because they’re all self-starters, they’ve taken the information and run with it in amazing directions.
Investment takes time
Five months in, I’m still blown away by the immense privilege it is to step into someone else’s life. The things I’ve learned personally from the process of mentoring remind me that it’s not a one-way relationship; it’s helped me to discover what I actually know and the “special sauce” that I bring to the table.
But I also recognize that I am just one person, and there are many more people like my mentees who need encouragement from someone who has more experience. One of my mentees shared recently that while many people are willing to have a single conversation, it’s rare for people to want to engage in a longer term mentoring relationship with a young person.
Investment in others is inherently rewarding, and I’ve found great pleasure and joy in celebrating the wins of my mentees, whether it’s getting a job or learning a new skill or growing as a human being. There are bumps and bruises, broken promises and grace, that are inherent in any human relationship. But there is also the heart growth that comes with investing in another human who is unlike yourself, and seeing those wings unfurl into the sun and taking off for that first flight.
Elaine is a senior product manager at Adobe. You can find her on Twitter at @elainecchao. All statements in this essay are her own and do not reflect the opinions of her employer.
Photo by Bhargava Marripati on Unsplash
