A mentor’s perspective on deploy(impact)
This week, we share Joanna Salathé’s take as a mentor for deploy(impact) 2021, as well as the benefits she sees for the participants of this 6-weeks software development program for social good.
A little bit about Joanna
She is a software engineer who acted as a mentor in last year’s deploy(impact). At the time, representing nothing, one of deploy(impact)’s sponsors.
Since her student years at EPFL, Joanna has been active in organizing and promoting events related to tech and science for (young) women.
What she enjoyed the most about her mentoring role at #deployimpact:
Joanna was thrilled to discover how meaningful the selected projects for social good were:
“deploy(impact)’s projects were so valuable and impactful, and I was really proud to say I was helping on them”.
She also loved the great energy of the participants and was impressed by how motivated and efficient they were to contribute to the projects in only 6-weeks.
The benefits for the participants
Joanna stated that the hands-on experience, as well as the networking aspect of the program, were key benefits to the participants.
“Having deploy(impact) as a full-lifecycle tech project can be a big plus on the participants’ resumé”.
Even more so as their code is hosted open-source, which allows participants to include it in their CV for recruiters to check out. An advantage for participants’ job search.
For Joanna, it was also important to highlight the diverse set of participants’ backgrounds joining the program, which makes deploy(impact) a great networking opportunity.
“This is very fruitful as participants of the program can make many connections that might help them in the future and at later stages of their careers”.
She was also happy for participants to get some more visibility after the program, thanks to the womenplusplus personalized posts on social media highlighting the individual participants’ skills and learnings with an “open to work” tag.
How to improve the mentorship experience in deploy(impact) 2022?
Joanna’s feedback regarding the mentorship experience during the first edition of the program was clear: she would see herself and other mentors, potentially offering even more value to participants by facilitating tech and non-tech workshops on key topics and methodologies, rather than hosting individual team sessions to review code.
“The level of coding was quite high, and participants needed rather guidance in general topics that drive the development of the solution throughout the 6 different sprints”.
Based on her feedback, and the one from other mentors, deploy(impact) 2022 brings an improved mentorship experience that focuses on the best learning potential for participants.
As a woman in tech
“Lack of representation is a real issue. Having other women as role models and seeing them achieve success in tech is very powerful and motivating. That is why initiatives like #deployimpact organized by #womenplusplus are very important to encourage and support women that want to pursue a career in tech”.
The women++ team would like to thank Joanna for her outstanding contribution to last year’s deploy(impact) and for her commitment to empowering other women to pursue and lead their careers in tech.
About deploy(impact)
For more reasons why you should sign up for deploy(impact), read our post on 7 Benefits to Joining deploy(impact) 2022.
Registration for deploy(impact) 2022 is now open. Head on over to our website to register your interest as a participant. Official applications open Aug 1 — Sep 10.
