Mentor a Program Participant

Two people with a Laptop.

Techtonica is a rigorous, six-month training program followed by job placement for women and non-binary adults with low incomes. Our program participants will benefit from the experience, insight, and support of someone who understands their desire to become software engineers and has successfully achieved that goal themselves. To improve our participants’ probability of success, we pair them with a mentor who can serve in the following roles:

  • Advisor – Mentors volunteer their professional wisdom, give feedback on projects, and are available to be a sounding board for mentees’ ideas.
  • Role Model – A mentor’s insight into their professional journey helps mentees see their own path into a new career.
  • Supporter – Learning to code can be a difficult and frustrating endeavor. It is incredibly important to have a volunteer mentor who listens with a sympathetic ear, acknowledges disappointments, and celebrates triumphs.

Benefits to Mentors

  • Techtonica mentors have a direct impact on creating a more diverse, inclusive tech industry.
  • Mentoring builds leadership skills in coaching, counseling, listening, and modeling.
  • Mentors have the opportunity to connect not only with their assigned mentees, but with other program participants, Techtonica staff and board members, fellow mentors, as well as other Techtonica supporters.

Eligibility

In order to best serve Techtonica mentees, mentors must be:

  • 18 years or older
  • Employed as a software engineer or in a closely-related field
  • In possession of a working laptop and wifi
  • Familiar with and able to help with the tech stack that participants will be using (React and Node) or willing to familiarize themselves and help with it
  • Able to attend most mentor events, including the matching and check-ins
Two people practicing whiteboarding. Two people with a Laptop.

Roles and Expectations

Mentors
  • Volunteer your encouragement, professional advice, and technical guidance.
  • Stay accessible, committed, and engaged with mentees.
  • Outside of program hours (Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 5:30 PM), meet with your mentee or the cohort via video calls at least two hours per week for the year of the program (the six months of the training followed by six months of placement or job search and community support).
  • Respond to mentee communications within 24 hours.
  • Submit regular reports to program staff.
  • Participate in program assessments as asked.
Program Participants
  • Meet with their mentors at least two hours per week for the duration of the training (six months) and placement (six months).
  • Stay accessible, committed, and engaged with mentors.
  • Participate in program assessments.
Techtonica
  • Recruits, selects, and matches mentors with participants.
  • Provides support and resources to facilitate participant/mentor relationship.

January 2025 Cohort Timeline

October 1st - TBD Mentor applications and open interviews
TBD Mentor acceptance letter
December 12th Mentor and participant matches at onboarding day
December 13th - January 12th Support participants doing pre-work
January 13th First day H1 2025 cohort
January 2025 - June 2025 Support during Techtonica training
June 2025 - December 2025 Support during placement or job search

If this sounds like a commitment that you can make, please apply now!

Mentor with Participant.

Our mentors play a significant role in supporting our participants on their tech growth journey! Here are some testimonials:

"I enjoy our weekly mentoring session, as it provides me a chance to summarize my wins, my confusion and talk about my burnout. Especially it provides me a chance to practice my presentation skills as I have to show my project to my mentor, talk about my designs and special tech knowledge I applied to it" -Techtonica participant

"I’m very grateful for the support I’m receiving- the encouragement makes me feel inspired to keep learning and helps me feel less scared to ask questions in the future" -Techtonica participant

"I also love the mentors: I had 2, and I felt so honored to be learning from them. They were both senior people in the field with a passion for teaching, and they gave me so much insight into the industry and helped me learn so much faster." -Techtonica participant