Project Thrive History
For over three years, OfferZen’s Project Thrive 12-week mentoring programme connected senior developers who wanted to pay-it-forward by helping junior developers. At Project Thrive, we removed the uncertainty of finding vetted mentees and provided a framework of how to make the most of a tech mentoring relationship. With this project, we offered an opportunity to foster meaningful relationships between mentors and mentees that led to cross-cultural knowledge transfer within the tech community.
How the Programme Worked​
The Project Thrive mentorship programme was guided by the specific area of development that a mentee would want their mentor to support or guide them with. A mentor is an experienced developer who has been where the mentee is. They help support and guide the mentee as they navigate the next steps of their career.
Meeting Up​
For the 12-week programme, pairs were expected to check in weekly for 45 mins - 1 hour.
Mentee Expectations​
As a mentee, you can think of your mentor as a guide or supporter. They are there to support you as you work through the areas you need support on. They’re not a teacher or a coach. They can’t tell you what to do. You’ll need to let your mentor know what it is you need guidance on, so you need to be open about your needs, your challenges and share your successes! The benefit of having a mentor is someone who has been where you are. They are there to help you succeed. They’re your friend in the trenches.
Mentor Expectations​
As a mentor, your mentee is going through a process of learning. They’re learning about the world of work, how to be professional and how to show value to their team—a lot of it is new! They start the relationship with an idea of what it is they want to learn or get better at, and from there, the mentor and mentee work together on the mentee's goals they’re looking to achieve. A mentor should be a guide or buddy to their mentee. While they may not have the answers or exact experience they are levelling up in, mentors do have the experience of the industry and a lot of what they've learned along the way will benefit their mentee as they start their tech careers.
Support from the Project Thrive Team​
Throughout the 12-week programme, our mentoring coordinators checked in with both mentors and mentees regularly to make sure that the mentorship programme continued to be valuable for both participants. Our mentoring coordinators were also responsible for setting up the initial match between the mentor and the mentee. They also provided them with training on mentoring best practices to help them get started.
About OfferZen
OfferZen is a developer talent marketplace by developers for developers. Our platform matches top software talent with exciting opportunities at companies, but this effort encompasses a much wider mission: to help developers and their teams thrive in the tech ecosystem.
Over the last five years, this mission has manifested in a multitude of ways: from our core business of helping software makers find awesome new jobs, to hosting local maker evenings and tech events or helping makers share their experiences on our blog. We want to help build an inclusive, transparent, and thriving tech ecosystem.
Interested in joining the OfferZen community? Check out what cool things we get up to here!