Why I Mentor: A Chat with Formation Mentors

In celebration of National Mentoring Month's "I Am a Mentor Day", we wanted to highlight some of our very own Mentors and learn about their passion for helping our engineering Fellows.

Every day, we get to work with the best engineers in Silicon Valley. From engineers at Google and Microsoft to those at Robinhood and Airbnb, our Mentors are the backbone of our program. We’re fortunate to be surrounded by incredible humans who all share our mission: helping talented engineers reach their potential and land a job that excites them.

We’re grateful for our Mentors year-round and, during National Mentoring Month, we get the pleasure of highlighting some of them. Kemet, Joana, Tala, Tolu, and Ansis are just a few of our exceptional Mentors who continually engage with and support our Fellows throughout their journey. Hear what mentoring brings to their lives and learn why they mentor with Formation.

Kemet Dugue

Kemet is a software engineer at Microsoft where he works on the Teams product. He’s also a member of /dev/color, a nonprofit that maximizes the impact of Black software engineers in tech.

Why do you mentor?

Mentoring brings me immense joy and fulfillment. As someone whose career benefited from mentoring, I see mentoring as a way to give back to the engineering community. It’s such a pleasure to work with hardworking and intelligent engineers at this critical stage in their careers. It brings me a ton of joy to play a small part in their development as they continue to hone their skills. More than anything, I am inspired and motivated by their drive to learn and grow despite the obstacles along the way.

What do you get out of mentoring?

Many things! I get a feeling of accomplishment knowing that I’ve supported others in their career journey. It also allows me constant opportunities for self-assessment and improvement as a person. And finally, it provides me the space to expand my own worldview by encountering diversity of thought

Whether it's a Fellow fully understanding the underlying concept, communicating an approach previously difficult to them, or landing their dream job, it is satisfying seeing those incremental improvements come together.

How does mentoring impact you as a leader/engineer?

Working with other engineers, each possessing their own unique perspective and solving approach, has helped to expand upon my traditional approach to developing. This allows me to be more flexible to alternative solutions. Beyond the technical aspect, mentoring has helped me be a more empathetic engineer.

What’s your favorite part about mentoring?

Celebrating wins! Whether it's a Fellow fully understanding the underlying concept, communicating an approach previously difficult to them, or landing their dream job, it is satisfying seeing those incremental improvements come together.

Joana Lopes

Joana brings more than 10 years of software engineering experience to Formation as a Mentor. She managed people and products at Facebook and Amazon before founding her own startup.

Why do you mentor?

Mentoring gives me so much joy. I love that I get to be part of our future, and I feel like every one of my own experiences I’m able to share with Fellows will help build up and shape the tech horizon. Additionally, being able to show that women can be successful through my own story and being a model to others is something that motivates me to mentor.

Seeing what one can achieve when they have the confidence and put in the hard work makes me proud. I want each engineer I mentor to surpass me in every way.

How does mentoring impact you as a leader/engineer?

Being able to see the tech world by newcomers keeps me updated and builds perspective. Ultimately this makes me a better leader.

What’s your favorite part about mentoring?

When someone realizes they can do it and then they go and do it! It amazes me every time. Seeing what one can achieve when they have the confidence and put in the hard work makes me proud. I want each engineer I mentor to surpass me in every way.

Who is a Fellow that really stood out to you?

When I first met Grace, a Formation Fellow, she was very shy and lacked confidence in herself. I helped guide her toward discovering the power within herself throughout my mentorship. During one of her last sessions, her peers all agreed that her communication skills and confidence were amazing. It was such a leap from her first session! She went on to land a great role at Shopify.

Tala Huhe

Tala has nearly 10 years of experience in software engineering and has worked at companies like Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit.

Mentoring is my chance to give others the opportunities that were given to me. My career has been successful because of talented mentors, and I'd like to use my skills to help others get to where they need to go.

Tolulope Komolafe

Tolu has 5+ years of experience and currently works at Carta as a full stack software engineer.

Why do you mentor?

When I think about my journey into software development, I reflect on how slow my growth was before I had support. As soon as I had a mentor and coach, it seemed like my growth took off. I don’t want anyone to struggle the same way I did.

Where I am today in my career, I owe to the mentors I’ve had over the years. Mentoring is my way of paying it forward. I derive joy knowing I’m making someone’s journey easier and more targeted, knowing they won’t struggle the same way I did. I love hearing from people I’ve mentored over the years and learning about the difference I made in their careers through timely guidance or inspiring them with my words. Mentoring is far from one-sided, though. I find that it helps me gain new perspectives and deeper knowledge of concepts I thought I knew, and it forces me to keep in touch with an ever-changing industry.

Ansis Strodahs

Ansis has 5+ years of experience as a software engineer at Amazon, Infogram, and Google.

Why do you mentor?

There are two main reasons. The first is that I've been on the other side early in my career. I found my mentors immensely helpful and I want to give back to others. The other reason is that helping others unlock their potential will have at least as much impact on the world as any work I will do individually. That’s powerful.

However, what I enjoy most about mentoring is the little things - there's something incredibly satisfying about seeing someone go from confusion about a concept or problem to understanding it. The feeling I get when a Fellow succeeds is pure joy.

Our Mentors are a driving force behind the life-changing roles we've helped our Fellows land. Interested in working with them and accelerating your career? Apply to join the Fellowship today.