Module Kick-Off DTR

This document is intended to facilitate the mentor and mentee partnership by encouraging clear communication and collaboration from the start of the relationship through a mutually agreed upon set of norms.

Note: this is a general template, and in future iterations there may be module/program specific versions based on specific program needs

General Expectations

At Turing, our mentor community is an important and valued part of our students’ experience in the program. The mentor program allows our students to build meaningful and supportive connections with professional contacts in the industry from the earliest phases of this new career.

The following will be the foundational, minimal expectations around contact and communication:

  • A weekly check-in between mentor and mentee via Slack
  • A weekly collaboration of at least 30 minutes
  • Responses to attempts at contact (from either mentor or mentee) within two work days
  • Proactive communication about schedule changes or adjustments to previously agreed upon pairings or meetings

In the first week of the module, work together to come to mutually agreed upon norms and expectations using the following prompts to get the conversation started.

Conversation prompts fall under the following categories:

  • Introductions
  • Scheduling
  • Communication
  • Specific support requests
  • Concerns for this inning (curriculum, life events, etc)

Introductions

  • Name
  • Pronouns

Mentor

  • What is your relationship to Turing (alum? community?)
  • Where do you work?
  • What was your path into this industry?
  • If you went to Turing, what did you do before?

Mentee

  • What did you do before Turing?
  • What made you decide to come to Turing?
  • What are you most excited about exploring in your career in tech?

Scheduling

  • When are the best times for us to connect? (early evening, lunch, etc)
  • What are our known scheduling restrictions? (family obligations, work commitments, etc)

Communication

  • What is the best way to reach each other? (Slack? Email?)
  • How often will we communicate?
  • How soon will we acknowledge that we have seen a message if we are too busy to send a detailed response?
  • How soon will we send a detailed response to a message?

Specific Support Requests

  • What are the mentees technical strengths and areas for desired improvement?
  • Is there any specific technical topic that we should focus on this inning?
  • Are there any topics from last inning that we should focus on reviewing?

Concerns for this inning

  • Do either of us have anything that we should be aware of? (upcoming life events, concerns about the upcoming curriculum, job hunt, etc)
  • Mentee identifies and shares with mentor:
  • What do I need when I get overwhelmed?
  • Who are my other supports and resources for this inning?