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As part of celebrating our 15th anniversary at Delvinia, I made a personal commitment to find ways to give back as an acknowledgement of what we have achieved as a company and to recognize my own journey. Giving back isn\u2019t always about donating money to a cause or organization.\u00a0 Rather, giving back can be simply giving your time to the next generation of students who are about to begin their careers.<\/p>\n
This past fall, I became an engineering mentor to a third year Computer Science Engineering student at the University of Toronto. I graduated from the University of Toronto in Industrial Engineering back in 1988 and I remember how confused I was about where my career would take me when I was in the latter stages of getting my degree.\u00a0 I thought providing my perspective and experience to someone who is looking for some guidance would be a nice way to give back my time. The experience has been so memorable.<\/p>\n
My mentee is a bright young woman who was struggling to decide which job to pursue as part of her professional experience year, which starts in May. While she had a number of interviews, her concerns were with the job function. I asked her the question, \u201cIn 15 years, what do you think you will remember about your professional experience year?\u201d\u00a0 At that moment, she realized that it was about the experience she would have and what would make it memorable.\u00a0 Needless to say, she chose the job in the San Francisco Bay area over the Toronto job.<\/p>\n
I was also recently booked to speak at a couple of university events. It happened that the two events were both last week, and while most of my speaking engagements these days are to industry audiences, I looked at these events as an opportunity to give back. But, I didn\u2019t realize how much I would get out of having the opportunity to meet these students face to face and to share my story and experiences.<\/p>\n