Dervis Mansuroglu - @dervismn
JavaZone 2022
This talk will share with you proven techniques for helping developers succeed. You will learn about the speakers experiences of mentoring developers from underrepresented groups of the IT-industry and how they succeed landing jobs and trainees positions after just a year and a half of mentoring. Learn about challenges along the way, and the prerequisites needed before mentoring others. Becoming a mentor requires you to face your biases and inner demons. It requires you to believe that all people, no matter background, are unique and skilled. You must relearn what trust and empathy really is in practice. Being a mentor elevates your career, your personality, and it can even save lives.
The last two years, I have spent most of my time mentoring developers from underrepresented groups in the IT industry in Norway. I have focused especially on helping people with mental illnesses and disabilities, autism and aspergers, and also anxiety and depression. Companies does not hire or give these people even interviews because of prejudices.
Mentoring by believing, trusting, supporting and deeply caring has transformed the relations with my mentees, and I have seen these wonderful people landing jobs and trainee positions one after another. They overcame challenges most others wouldn't think they could, at times, not even themselves.
There is a ton of material, talks, and courses already about becoming a mentor, so why should you listen to my talk? I believe the existing material often miss some crucial points - the aspect of servant leadership, deep empathy, inspiration and vision. I want explain in my talk how I put these topics into practice by preforming and thinking about them.
People from underrepresented groups do not need teaching - they need human beings believing in them, seeing them and giving them a chance. Any person in a position of power, can choose to use that power to help others or silently ignore people. As a leader, a manager and a Java Champion, I chose to help and to include more developers from underrepresented groups to get into jobs. I want tell how others can do the same.
Principal Officer / teamleader
Norwegian JUG javaBin, Oslo Organizer
Who am I and why listen to me?
Oslo Software Architecture Co-Organizer
Java Champion
Empathy. To me, what I have sort of come to realize, what is the most innate in all of us is that ability to be able to put ourselves in other people’s shoes and see the world the way they see it. That’s empathy.
Ability to feel what another person is feeling, by placing yourself in another's position.
Empathy but not sympathy: When you understand someones feelings, but do not agree on their situation.
Ability to perceive, understand, and react to the distress or need of another person.
Sympathy but not empathy:
When you understand someone is distressed and want to help, but do not understand their feelings.
Challenge your inner dragon!
You
Company
Partners
You
HR
Leaders
Colleagues
Teams & tasks
Government projects
Job agencies
Non-profits
You
Partners
Company
Leaders and managers must embrace diversity, and create a strategy for inclusion.
HR helps you with recruitment, enrolment, and welfare administration.
Teams provide relevant tasks from anywhere between 3 to 18 months.
Colleagues share knowledge, provide feedback and creates social events and networks.
Company
You
Partners
You demonstrate trust. You are the safety net around your mentee.
You plan, speak and motivate your mentee on his/hers vision, goals and dreams.
You help your mentee build a network and you encourage him/her to reach out.
You provide support; emotional and technical. You also challenge your mentee.
Company
You
Partners
Partners are external companies, non-profits, gov. and non-gov agencies.
They help you get in touch with both employed and unemployed people.
Partners might also help you during the mentoring time.
Partners might support you economically and make it easier for you company to take in trainees.
You boss told you so, and you kind of jumped into it.
You get extra cash, and you need the money.
You want to be famous or celebrated.
Because you actually care and want to help people.
Developers who want to grow within the company.
More than often these people are from underrepresented groups.
Developers in transition between roles/positions.
Developers working towards personal growth.
Wide range of ages, genders, abilities, skills and backgrounds.
Remove the stigma and the negative labels!
Learn about the uniqueness in everybody.
1. Set aside your political, religious and historical beliefs
2. Have a code of conduct, and fight injustice and hate speech
3. Teach from the perspective and skill level of the students
4. Be available for questions and support
5. Present simple examples and repeat basics
6. Invite inspirational people as co-hosts
The sum of values, behaviours and attitudes in the company.
Strengthen the behaviours you want, and actively make a stand for damaging behaviours.
Over time, the values, behaviours and attitudes becomes your culture.
Holistic approach to a person growth and wellbeing.
Task-oriented training to grow a skill or set of skills.
2 days workshop for mentors & mentees.
Weekly meetings
1 day workshop for mentees.
6 months
1st week
3rd month
Feedback 1
Bi-weekly meetings
6 months
Feedback 2
Transition to job
Start
12 months
Feedback 4
Interview techniques, technical workshops
15 months
15 months
Feedback 5
9 months
Feedback 3
Employability
workshops
9 months
Building trust and safety
Personal & interpersonal skills
Effect over time, not change on time.
Building skills, confidence and trust takes time. Be patient, it's worth it!
Many victories along the way!
Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning.
Stuff that does not work well:
- Command & control driven managers
- Waterfall projects & tight deadlines
- Misaligned teams (ref. Kniberg's model, Spotify)
Because you did/said ....
I felt ....
so that I couldn't/didn't/wouldn't ....
Here is how it could be
better ....
Based on research written in HBR:
https://hbr.org/2020/11/stop-asking-for-feedback
Building high psychological safety is harder.
Arsenal 2014 - 2018
Manchester U. 2018 - 2019
You might be the best, but you still need a strong team in order to succeed.
Working on domains that lives in old systems, at the same time as exploring new ideas in modern systems are hard, and it makes communication really hard.
(servant leadership)
Intelligent developers, masters of finding and remembering patterns.
Can discuss and branch to several related & unrelated topics.
Can deeply analyse problems.
@dervismn
dervis.no
Thanks for listening!
linkedin.com/in/dervism/
By Dervis Mansuroglu
