Life at Wizeline

How Becoming a Mentor Has Boosted My Career

How Becoming a Mentor Has Boosted My Career

Hello there! My name is Carlos Goyeneche, and I am a Staff Engineer at Wizeline. I want to share with you how my journey to becoming a mentor has changed my life.

To start, I have to go back to mid-2019. At that time, I was the kind of guy who was only concerned about the technical stuff and put aside anything related to soft skills. I was somewhat baffled as to why some people are paid to be on calls every day, or why they earn so much money for simply talking to other people. These were some of the questions that arose in my mind when it came to skills that weren’t strictly technical. 

Back then, I did not fully grasp the importance of these abilities. But over time, as I gained experience, I came to understand that advancing in your career requires a combination of soft and hard skills. 

Embracing a Fresh Mindset

My realization that having a diverse skill set matters is part of what made me interested when I received a mentoring opportunity with a programming school called Make It Real. Make It Real is an experience designed to train developers in the latest technologies required by the market, but without strictly following traditional practices like giving certificates for course completion. Strategies such as learning by doing, or learning for free and being paid after finding a job, are the differentiators.

Back in 2019, some of my friends would say I was naive. I think my problem at that time was not having had a clear opportunity to start discovering and developing my soft skills. That is, until the night when I was introduced to Alejandro Escobar, one of the brightest individuals I’ve had the chance to speak with and the brother of German Escobar, CEO of Make It Real.

Talking with Alejandro, I quickly noticed his strong experience and knowledge of the industry (he was working with Toptal – one of the most popular remote companies in the world – at that time). I tried to keep up the conversation (trust me, it was not easy), but in the end, I know he felt comfortable and curious.

The next day, I woke up with a message from German telling me that he spoke with his brother. He said that Alejandro was impressed with how judicious I was (I still am), which prompted German to ask me to join the Make It Real team as a mentor. I said yes without hesitation, as I saw this as a gateway to an unknown world that I always wanted to discover. In the end, it turned out to be very worthwhile.

The Power of Mentoring 

Being a mentor is a rewarding experience that’s difficult to describe until you do it yourself. It could be compared to when you love someone so much, you want to see that person grow and help them along the way. There is no greater gift than knowing you are changing someone’s life!

Now, I am continuing my mentoring journey at Wizeline. As you may already know, Wizeline Academy offers tons of free technical education programs that involve one-on-one mentorship. Currently, I am supporting the React Redux Bootcamp as a mentor, and it has been an incredible experience. 

To make a very long story short, being a mentor will boost your tech knowledge to another level while also awakening your human side. I’ve met extremely competent and talented people, some of whom have even become friends. Even if you don’t expect it at first, believe me – this experience will make you feel very proud and add value professionally as well as personally.

Thank you very much for reading about my experience!

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Ana Karen Aguilar

Posted by Ana Karen Aguilar on July 7, 2022