Life at Wizeline

Teaching & Learning at Wizeline: Carlos Veloz’s Story

Teaching & Learning at Wizeline: Carlos Veloz’s Story

In today’s blog, I would like to share what I’ve learned about the value of mentoring and what it means to collaborate with Wizeline Academy.

After starting my career as a software developer a couple years ago, I am now a software quality assurance engineer. Like many fellow QA engineers I know, I slowly began transitioning into the QA world by reading some blogs and books, plus looking for tutorials. It was really hard for me at the time, because most of the resources covered random topics and didn’t help me understand how to put the pieces all together.

Finding high-quality resources or tutorials that walk you through the most relevant aspects of any technology and how to apply it to real-life situations can be a big challenge. Many courses are costly, and they may fail to provide up-to-date information or the necessary context to give you a comprehensive understanding. Living and working successfully in today’s IT world means staying up to the minute on the latest technologies and frameworks while constantly looking for new horizons. Not only is this necessary to develop one’s capabilities, but also to stay relevant in a constantly changing environment.

Why Is Education Important?

Education is a right, not a privilege. Critical thinking skills are among the most important things to be learned, as they help a person understand how to use logic when making decisions and interacting with people. The positive impacts might include boosted creativity and improved time management, just to name a few. Critical thinking can also help individuals achieve their personal and professional goals, meet basic job qualifications, and challenge the status quo.

When I joined Wizeline back in 2019, I had the opportunity to attend some Wizeline Academy onsite events at our Guadalajara office. Seeing the speakers share their knowledge and experience with such passion while following a well-crafted agenda was amazing. The company truly believes that by offering free, high-quality educational programs, we will close the gap of people not having access to the resources they need to boost their careers and succeed in their professional goals.

Still, being in the spotlight is not an easy job, and they know it. That’s why they help you develop your soft skills so you can become the mentor you wanted to have when you were a junior engineer. Behind any event from Wizeline Academy, there is a network of knowledgeable people willing to help you in any way they can so you can succeed in teaching others as an effective mentor.

Mentoring: A Two-Way Street with Enormous Value

When you become a mentor, you get exposed to different thoughts and opinions. Hearing ideas that may be fundamentally different from yours can certainly be challenging for some people; but, when we respectfully hear differing thoughts and new perspectives, the world becomes a better place.

Perhaps someone from the audience can give you another perspective on how to solve problems, or maybe they are questioning you because they hadn’t considered other approaches. Take every opportunity to engage in a spirited debate and to understand the pros and cons of each proposal. At the end, you may hold on to your beliefs, or you may change your stance and have an opportunity to grow as you consider alternative ideas. Lively discussions allow you to glean new information and opinions from others, which will ultimately make you better at your job.

Our profession moves at a fast pace, and sometimes you get so caught up in your daily routine that there is not enough time for you to catch up on the latest technologies being used. Rest assured: As long as you have strong foundations, you can give new, potentially world-changing tools a try. Embrace twists and turns here and there in any of your local projects, and boom – you’ll have something new to share.

While teaching others, we teach ourselves. In order for you to correctly answer questions from the audience, you might want to refresh your memory on certain topics. It never hurts to go back to the basics every once in a while to maintain your knowledge and avoid giving a wrong answer about a definition or technical implementation. At the same time, keep in mind that the advice you offer as a mentor doesn’t always need to be profound in order to be valuable. Little tweaks and suggestions can make a world of difference for a mentee and may even earn you praise and credit for helping to resolve what had previously seemed to be an insurmountable issue.

As a mentor, you’ll impart knowledge and your own experience to your mentees. Yet, mentoring is a two-way street. You will get to expand your knowledge base and gain new perspectives as well, resulting in a worthwhile learning experience for everyone involved.

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Ana Karen Aguilar

Posted by Ana Karen Aguilar on March 24, 2022