My learnings of Women Who Code Delhi Mentorship program 4.0- Week 1
In wisdom gathered over time I have found that every experience is a form of exploration-
Ansel Adams.
Hey Techies!
When I was a teenager, I read somewhere- “There is a time and place for everything that is
college.” This line hits me differently. You folks may be wondering, why is it so? Isn’t it. Let me
start from the very beginning :)
A little bit about me :)
I have always believed that “I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious”.
As soon
as my JOSAA counseling ended and I confirmed my seat in one of the most stunning colleges
in India. I decided that I’m gonna explore everything here. Although the situation was difficult
due to the pandemic and everything was going on virtually. I had believed that it will become
normal in the coming days but somehow till this day, it’s the same.
I realised that “life is full of
uncertainty, we’ve just got to learn to live with!
I started expanding my horizons, I connected with various people across the globe through
LinkedIn, Started following tech communities on Twitter, Joined various communities, and
worked with people from different domains.
Networking is not about just connecting people. It’s
about connecting people with people, people with ideas, and people with opportunities.
One such opportunity was Mentorship Programme 4.0 through Women who code Delhi.
This was a much-awaited program for me as I was connected to various people who work here.
I was really inspired by the achievements of all the mentors for this program. I really wanted to
be part of it and I just applied for it to become the best version of myself.
Excuses will always be
there for you, opportunity won’t!
The Overview of the Program
5th Feb 2022- WWCD Mentorship Program 4.0 Application Update
I got the mail from the team regarding my application status- I was waitlisted. I was a bit sad
because I was in the waitlisted category but had hoped to get selected.
7th Feb 2022- Onboarding! Selected as a Mentee under 60 from 2000+ applications.
I was very excited after receiving the mail and was curious to know about my mentor. We also
got connected with other mentees over the telegram and discord channel of WWCD.
10th Feb 2022- Program Briefing
We were invited to the meeting regarding the discussion of the program and the next steps to be followed.
Onboarding-It was an incredible experience to know in detail about the community. I got the chance to interact with Manika Jain who was the host for the session, it was amazing talking with her and knowing her life endeavor. She is very cool and passionate about tech, and very much concerned about uplifting the women in tech. She also shared that the core members of this community had a great impact on her success and she is giving back to the community. She is a true inspiration for all of us.
We make a living by what we get but me a life by what we give- Winston Churchill
12th Feb 2022-Connecting with the mentor.
Finally, I got my mentor :) Three of us me and my 2 other mates were allotted as a mentees under one mentor.
When i was reading the profile of my mentor Sonal Kushwaha, I felt so proud for being a mentee under her for the next 5 weeks. It is really a privilege for me. Her profile was speaking out everything about her. Her achievements are remarkable. We also introduced ourselves in the mail thread.
14th Feb 2022- Getting to know each other.
Week 1 was majorly focused on the mentors getting to know us and our individual goals and expectations from this program.
Week 1 | Day 1
I was all set to interact with my mentor and mates. The meeting went for an hour it started with the introduction of my mentor(Sonal di) and then followed by us(Me, Mitali & Sanju) Di gave us beautiful insights. The key points of the discussion are:-
1)Describe your goal
We were given the task to write our goals and filter out short-term goals and long-term goals. Goals can be mapped into which goal will
- Have The highest impact on you.
- Can be completed fastest
- Most exciting to do
2) Make your online presence
Start building professional connections on Linkedin, follow the tech communities on Twitter writing blogs, and making a personal brand.
3) List out the opportunities for women in tech and align with your goals
It could be anything from internship opportunities hackathons, Scholarships Workshops, Outreachy, Open source. Research work, etc.
4)Schedule a 1:1 call with the mentor using calendly
Calendly in the hub for scheduling meetings professionally and efficiently
5)General doubt session
I asked about how to ask professors for LOR since I was applying for Grace Hopper Scholarship 2022 wasn’t sure how to frame it and exactly what to write. Di suggested me few points, “whenever you write divide it into 4 sub-sections” she stated.
- What the opportunity is?
- Why I should get selected?
- What impact it will have on you?
- Ask for the recommendation.
I was like whoo! How simple it is! 2 hours before I was wondering for the past 2-3 days what to write and now I clicked it within a minute. Awesome!
The session ended but had an awesome 1 hour and great learning from my mentor and fellow mates.
"The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score." –Bill Copeland
Week 1 | Day 2
I started mapping out my goals both fong-term and short-term I am a tech enthusiast and passionate about learning new technologies. My long-term goals came out as to work in the field of AR/VR and Web 3. it’s the most exciting goal for me. The path will definitely be challenging but I’m confident that I will contribute something big in this field. Short term goal came out as to apply for the internship opportunities in the top tech giants. And the one gos! which I found will have the highest impact on me is to contribute back to society, work for underrepresented communities, and to generate ideas for the challenges that the world will face to specify "Climate change".
Week 1 | Day 3
Looked on the various opportunities for women in tech.
My research work included-
Just look around there are endless opportunities available for you!
Week 1 | Day 4
1:1 call with the mentor.
I was very excited about this conversation. It was scheduled for 30 minutes but went for 45 minutes :). It started with the journey of sonar di(My mentor). She shared her experiences, the downfalls she faced, and how she achieved milestones by learning from the failures. She is an upcoming Software engineering intern at Microsoft. She was amongst the 125 girls selected as the Googie Women Techmakers Engineering Fellows in 2020. She is a Gold Tier #IAmRemarkable Facilitator and loves organizing workshops to uplift the underrepresented groups. She enjoys making web and mobile apps that solve real-world issues and loves to take part in hackathons.
A dream does not become reality through magic, it takes sweat. determination, and hard work.
What a magnificent personality! It was great hearing from her. She was very conscious about her career from the 1st year itself. Her achievements reflect her hard work and dedication. Also she is very cool, chill, and sweet by nature. Then she asked me the same as what I did till now.
I shared my journey too and I got a good response from her. She asked me about my goals and assured me you are gonna achieve everything you want. I was happy inside. She suggested me plenty of resources & opportunities and helped to figure out my plans. Di told me to get started with it from that moment itself. Just be focused and consistent.
I accumulated small but consistent habits that ultimately led to results that were unimaginable when I started.- James Clear
Week 1 | Day 5
Started the basic problems of DSA on Leetcode, Happily Learning!
Week 1 | Day 6
Leetcode as usual and prepared content for this blog.
That’s how Week 1 ended. There are a lot of sessions to come, meets to attend. Leaming is a continuous process and it will not stop.
The idea for these blog posts is
- To help us summarize all that we learned from this program
- To help us build us an online presence
- To build a community and share our learning with those who aren’t a part of this program
