[Week 2]: WWCD Mentorship Program 4.0- a week full of excitement, potential, and endless possibilities.

Hey Champ! I’m glad to have you back. Thank you for showing interest in the previous blog. I appreciate your response and suggestions for improvement.

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” — Confucius

[Week 2]: WWCD Mentorship Program 4.0 | Internships & Placements!

Day 1

A new week rolled in, a week full of excitement, potential, and endless possibilities. This week was mainly focused on Internships & Placements. During the 1:1 session with our mentor in the previous week, I had already figured out what kind of Internship I want to do. I started practicing easy to medium problems of DSA on Leetcode.

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.” — E. James Rohn.

Day 2

This day started well, I got the mail from GHC 22 Scholarship Portal: Scholarship Recommendation received. I was very delighted to know this. I’m grateful to the professor and Sonal Di(My mentor) for making me aware of the context of LOR. Next, I needed a Resume and essay answers for the application to be submitted. My resume was under verification, I requested my mentor to review it, and suggest to me some points on essay questions that were asked for GHC Scholarship.

Di reviewed it immediately and suggested to me some points to focus on. Before sharing the Suggestions, I would like to highlight the mistakes I did while preparing my resume-

• Made my resume through google docs, and messed up the border margins and section margins.
• The font was random, it was not showing a professional view.
• The content of leadership and positions of responsibility was huge and it should be made simpler.
• The description of the projects done was written in the First-person.
• Skills were not categorized.

Suggestions on Resume

• Making a resume on Google docs is not an issue just fix the margins or, use the professional-looking template.
• One of the best sites for templates is- overleaf.com

Templates — Journals, CVs, Presentations, Reports and More — Overleaf, Online LaTeX Editor

• Use a professional font that is clear and readable and with size 10 or 12, don’t make the content uneven.
• Include only relevant information.
• Use keywords that are mentioned in the job description.
• Always update your resume, don’t use the same resume for different job positions.
• If you’re applying for Scholarships then Your leadership roles/Community work is a matter of concern but when it comes to the SWE role or any other job roles then Project and your skills matter the most.
• Recruiters verify 1000s of resumes for a particular job; they spend just 5–6 seconds per resume, so accordingly highlight only the important part relevant to the job description. Within that few seconds, your resume should reflect that you are a perfect fit for that job.

Suggestions for the essay answers

• Tell your personal story
• How do you find out about the program?
• Why do you want to join?
• How important is it for you to join the event?
• What will you gain out of this experience?
• Mention any bias/hardships you faced throughout the life
• Strongly demonstrate a passion for women in tech
• Mention your leadership skills and how will you help your peers/juniors/anyone
• Circle it around how your life experiences defined you as a person and how this event will help you connect with people across the world.

Day 3

Worked on the points suggested and prepared my resume & essay answers. Applied for LinkedIn CoachIn Program an opportunity suggested by di(My mentor). Everything was going fine and I got the notice of my offline classes from Mid March felt like online life is so easy in terms of the majority of things, especially exams :) lol! Between I’m excited too just booked a ticket on that day itself.

“And suddenly you know…it’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings.”

Day 4

Yes! It finally came, I was waiting so long for this day. Any guesses why?

I had registered for Hash Code- a coding competition organized by Google. I was very excited to take part in it. Although I was in a team of just 2 members consisting of me and one fresher from IGDTW.I knew it’s a tough challenge we don’t know much but at the same time, I felt this is how we learn and grow. There is no harm in trying. It was for the first time that I was participating in any coding competition. I checked the schedule and it was from 5:30 UCT I accidentally thought it was Indian standard Time! :(. I texted my other mate to be ready at 5:30 PM and then we were like what’s happening it still showing the event will start in …. and finally understood we are mistaken by time zone. We misinterpreted it then we thought at least we can try once doesn’t matter the level is easy or tough. I don’t know what happened I missed it.

“Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity”

Day 5

Our mentor organized a meeting to discuss the main agenda of this week i.e Internships & placement opportunities for us. Keep an eye on Linkedin for various opportunities. There are also various communities/Groups which give you updates on opportunities. Try to join/become part of that.

The meet revolved around 3 main subtopics-

• Resume
• DSA and Problem Solving
• Interview

For the resume, I have already written all the necessary information in Day 2 section.

Now coming to DSA and Problem Solving. The key highlights of the discussion are-

• One of the best sites to practice Problem Solving is Leetcode.
• Always try to give the weekly contest. It reflects the time-bound practice.
• Leetcode features Virtual Contest every 2nd week of Saturday in a month. It’s highly advised to give that.
• Other sites for Competitive programming/contest/practicing or problem-solving are CodeChef, code forces, etc.
• It’s recommended to practice top 100 questions/top 100 liked questions.

Moving forward to the Interview part-

• Mock interviews are very important to give them when you feel that you know enough.
• You can schedule it on online sites available for eg. Pramp or you can ask peers/seniors/mentors to fix a mock interview.
• Don’t panic during the interview, your interviewer will always try to help you out if you get stuck/not able to find the correct logic in any problem.
• Never misinterpret the words of your interviewer.
• Don’t reject yourself if it didn’t go well as selection is done relatively. It’s based on technical understanding, approach & critical thinking.

Bonus- Sonal Di(My mentor) shared plenty of resources/opportunities with us.

Day 6

Three of us (the mentees) share a very strong connection. We have thought of working on a common project during the duration of this program. I’m sure I will devote at least one blog for us too. We are happily learning and growing!

Wise Words -

Take it easy! Don’t be scared. Be kind to yourself. You are doing so much better than you think. You become what you believe.

Thank you! Bye-bye until next week! Stay Updated.

In case you missed my Week 1 blog of this program- https://medium.com/@khushboo7324/my-learnings-of-women-who-code-delhi-mentorship-program-4-0-week-1-bb3713966796

Connect with me on-

LinkedIn- https://www.linkedin.com/in/khushboo-kumari-767434201/