Each month of the 2021 – 2022 academic year (August 2021 through May 2022 with a break in December), students in the program are required to schedule a meeting with their mentor. Students will be setting up meetings constantly throughout their careers, so this will be a good opportunity for them to get a bit of practice with coordinating one-on-one meetings.
We will provide a set of suggested topics for each meeting to get things started, but our intent is for the students and mentors to have leeway in steering the conversations. Students may wish to discuss what day to day life looks like for a software engineer, best practices for finding an internship, tips on how to learn difficult CS subjects, or perhaps discuss something completely unrelated to CS. That’s all within the parameters and expectations of the program.
Students will be asked to:
- Respect mentors’ time; scheduling and attending the meetings is part of their grade for this class.
- Respect boundaries; both parties can ‘pass’ on answering a question.
- Get the most out of their mentor-mentee relationship. We’re extremely grateful to all the mentors for offering their time and guidance, so students will be reminded to take advantage of it!
The Students
Our CES|CS scholars have a broad variety of backgrounds. They also have a few things in common:
- They are academically talented!
- Many are first generation college students
- Many may not already have a personal connection in the tech industry
- They are entering their third year of their CS degree, meaning that internships, upper-division courses, and ultimately the job market are on the horizon.
The Mentors
Our mentors are all USF alumni. They too have a variety of backgrounds and specializations, and we are incredibly grateful that they have agreed to be a part of this program!
Giving students a contact inside the industry they hope to eventually break into after graduation is a huge confidence booster, and mentors will often be much more up-to-date on how the field is evolving, what skills are in demand, and the best ways to navigate the job market.
Mentoring Activities
The format of CS 386 is hybrid, and since many mentors are not located in the Bay Area, meetings will be scheduled over Zoom (or another video conferencing tool of choice) while other class activities may be held on campus.
Students will spend time in class preparing for their one-on-one meetings and reflecting on their conversations. We will also coordinate group activities throughout the academic year that mentors are welcome to attend if their schedules allow.
Since this is the first time many mentors are participating in such a program, we will also hold mentor panels so the mentors can meet each other and discuss how their meetings with students have been going.
Resources
The following pages have some tips for facilitating the mentor-mentee relationship: