My experience of the Women Techmakers Engineering Fellows (WTEF) mentorship program
Many first-year students reached out to me in the past few weeks regarding my program journey, so I decided to write an article for all the 2021 and future aspirants :)
The WTEF program is a two-year program aimed at the Professional and Technical development of Women in Tech. To read more about the program and the eligibility criterion, check out the website.
I learned a lot from this program; I would stick to some main points for this article.
Good code/bad code.
People have this notion that to have a successful tech career, you must have excellent technical skills. That’s true, but the problem arises when they believe coding is the only ability that will help you succeed.
“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.” — Martin Fowler
This program not only introduced me to the concepts of code-smells, refactoring code, and code readability but provided me the guidance and opportunities to understand and build upon them.
Hello? Communicate!
Before this program, I could never even think of talking among strangers. This program has a massive role in my personality development. The sessions, activities, talks, and mentorship encouraged me to speak up and helped me articulate my thoughts better over time.
What do *you* want to learn?
One of my favorite things about this program is that we can learn whatever we want to. I mean it — WHATEVER we want to. Well, of course, the “whatever” must be related to the field of Computer Science. The fun part is you’ll find so many ambitious peers to learn it with you — which brings me to my next point.
Connections!
I cannot begin to explain how wonderful it is to be a part of a community where everyone is so driven and ambitious. You get to learn new stuff every day, and you get so much love, support, and encouragement. You can together work on projects, watch movies, have discussions, doubt sessions, and whatnot. I want to go on writing about this point forever, but I would like you to finish reading my article :D
But my college?
Many aspirants asked this question to me: how would I manage my college with this program? Or even would I be able to manage college and this program? My most straightforward response is: when previous cohorts could do this, why won’t you? I accept there would be some days when it would be more difficult than others — but you won’t be alone in this journey. Reach out to your friends, mentors, and the team. Everyone is super supportive and super helpful.
The bottom line is you would have to put in efforts, time, and dedication. The program is only beneficial for those who are willing to commit to it. Just remember:
“What comes easy won’t last. What lasts won’t come easy.”
I hope this article clears your doubts. Feel free to reach out to me on LinkedIn or book a slot on Topmate and connect with me :)
