EMC External Mentoring Program. How we work with talented students
On June 9, participants graduated from the fourth set of the EMC External Mentoring Program, in which we set two records in 2014-2015: the number of participants — 21 wards and 20 engineers-tutors. Here we want to talk about what constitutes the EMC mentoring program, which students we invite to take part in and what they do during the year.
For the past 7 years, every spring, the St. Petersburg EMC Development Center in collaboration with the International Charity Foundation for Mathematics. Leonard Euler awards a scholarship to a “successful first-year student” of 40 students from 6 best technical universities of St. Petersburg who completed the first session perfectly. We invite children to our office to meet with leaders and representatives of their universities, hand over certificates and conduct an excursion to our data center.
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At the awards ceremony, we invite students to join the new recruitment program in the EMC External Mentoring Program. To become our wards (English mentee), you need to send an essay about yourself and your interests in the field of IT. At the same time, we invite experienced engineers of the EMC Development Center, future mentors (mentor) to participate in the program, and also ask them to write an essay about themselves. Based on the "essays" we make up a pair of mentor-ward, who will interact during the year.
Acquaintance of couples takes place at the in-person meeting devoted to the start of the program. The mentor and the client exchange contacts and agree on a format for future interaction, which usually includes meetings at the company's office 1-2 times a week. We offer couples to set themselves goals and a training plan, to identify areas of professional and personal development, the study of which wards will work together with mentors. We believe that there is a significant difference between a “teacher” and a “mentor”. Mentor is a friend who can not only provide expertise on the issues of the ward, but also give advice on the personal development of the student.
Simultaneously with working with mentors, students attend our educational seminars, which are conducted by some of the EMC mentors and engineers. We are trying to draw up lecture programs in such a way that they get an idea about their future profession, about the world of industrial development, including such areas as meta-programming and project management. Wards themselves choose interesting to them seminars. Within the program, students can develop in three directions: soft-skills (or personal development), technical skills, business skills. In total, over 10 seminars are held during the program.
After 9 months of work, it is time to sum up. We meet at the "graduation", the guys share their impressions, talk about their results and present prototypes of the conceived and implemented projects. We invite high-ranking guests from the company's foreign offices to such graduations. So, in 2013, the guys talked about their successes in the program to Steve Todd, EMC Fellow, a leading expert in the field of information storage and processing. And in 2015, the guest of our "graduation" was Joel Schwartz, senior vice president of the corporation. The format of such meetings is usually as free as possible: wards can chat with guests and receive important tips for developing a future career.
The EMC Mentorship Program is an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the IT world, to communicate directly with engineers who have extensive experience in the development and management of software projects. We believe that such experience is important for students, because, in addition to the excellent fundamental base taught by universities, it is also important for students to experience the realities of industrial software development. The opportunity to ask any question to an engineer working in a large company just allows you to move from “theory” to “practice”.
Seminars on resume writing, interviewing and public speaking help wards in the future to successfully start a career. Technical lectures allow you to broaden your horizons and can help you choose a direction for more detailed study. Working throughout the semester as part of the program, students see the processes occurring within the industry and will not have any illusions about what awaits them after they find a job.
Successful completion of the program does not mean that we break ties with our graduates. From the title illustration it is clear that this is only the beginning, but more on this in future articles :).
About the program
For the past 7 years, every spring, the St. Petersburg EMC Development Center in collaboration with the International Charity Foundation for Mathematics. Leonard Euler awards a scholarship to a “successful first-year student” of 40 students from 6 best technical universities of St. Petersburg who completed the first session perfectly. We invite children to our office to meet with leaders and representatives of their universities, hand over certificates and conduct an excursion to our data center.
')
At the awards ceremony, we invite students to join the new recruitment program in the EMC External Mentoring Program. To become our wards (English mentee), you need to send an essay about yourself and your interests in the field of IT. At the same time, we invite experienced engineers of the EMC Development Center, future mentors (mentor) to participate in the program, and also ask them to write an essay about themselves. Based on the "essays" we make up a pair of mentor-ward, who will interact during the year.
Acquaintance of couples takes place at the in-person meeting devoted to the start of the program. The mentor and the client exchange contacts and agree on a format for future interaction, which usually includes meetings at the company's office 1-2 times a week. We offer couples to set themselves goals and a training plan, to identify areas of professional and personal development, the study of which wards will work together with mentors. We believe that there is a significant difference between a “teacher” and a “mentor”. Mentor is a friend who can not only provide expertise on the issues of the ward, but also give advice on the personal development of the student.
Simultaneously with working with mentors, students attend our educational seminars, which are conducted by some of the EMC mentors and engineers. We are trying to draw up lecture programs in such a way that they get an idea about their future profession, about the world of industrial development, including such areas as meta-programming and project management. Wards themselves choose interesting to them seminars. Within the program, students can develop in three directions: soft-skills (or personal development), technical skills, business skills. In total, over 10 seminars are held during the program.
After 9 months of work, it is time to sum up. We meet at the "graduation", the guys share their impressions, talk about their results and present prototypes of the conceived and implemented projects. We invite high-ranking guests from the company's foreign offices to such graduations. So, in 2013, the guys talked about their successes in the program to Steve Todd, EMC Fellow, a leading expert in the field of information storage and processing. And in 2015, the guest of our "graduation" was Joel Schwartz, senior vice president of the corporation. The format of such meetings is usually as free as possible: wards can chat with guests and receive important tips for developing a future career.
The EMC Mentorship Program is an opportunity for students to immerse themselves in the IT world, to communicate directly with engineers who have extensive experience in the development and management of software projects. We believe that such experience is important for students, because, in addition to the excellent fundamental base taught by universities, it is also important for students to experience the realities of industrial software development. The opportunity to ask any question to an engineer working in a large company just allows you to move from “theory” to “practice”.
Seminars on resume writing, interviewing and public speaking help wards in the future to successfully start a career. Technical lectures allow you to broaden your horizons and can help you choose a direction for more detailed study. Working throughout the semester as part of the program, students see the processes occurring within the industry and will not have any illusions about what awaits them after they find a job.
Successful completion of the program does not mean that we break ties with our graduates. From the title illustration it is clear that this is only the beginning, but more on this in future articles :).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/260835/
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