My Red Hat B.U.I.L.D. Mentorship Program Journal Blog
Red Hat, Inc., established in 1993, is an American company specializing in open source software solutions for businesses. It operates as a subsidiary of IBM. Red Hat Blacks United in Leadership and Diversity (B.U.I.L.D.) is a 6-month mentorship program designed to empower you with the knowledge, skills, and networks needed to navigate your career journeys effectively.
Participating in the Red Hat B.U.I.L.D. program has been an incredibly enriching experience. From the insights to the invaluable guidance from experienced mentors, I have deepened my knowledge and skills on various topics that have significantly contributed to my professional development. In this journal, I will share my journey, the highlights of the program, and the key takeaways that have shaped my career aspirations.
Meeting 1: Introduction to the Red Hat B.U.I.L.D. Program
Thursday Apr 11, 2024
The program kicked off with a virtual meeting via Google Meet, where fellow mentees and I were introduced to each other and briefed on the program's objectives through a comprehensive PowerPoint presentation. Having previously attended the Red Hat Intern Open-House (where l also found out about the B.U.I.L.D. program opportunity.), I was familiar with a few mentors, which helped foster a sense of community. At the end of the meeting they revealed Mentors and Mentees that were paired together for the 6 month journey. I had the pleasure of being paired to Vishali, a Software Quality Engineer at the Red Hat. who promptly reached out via LinkedIn to schedule our first one-on-one.
Meeting 2: First One-on-one Meeting w/ my Mentor
Friday Apr 26, 2024
Our initial meeting took place at Barnes & Noble. She wanted to touch base with where I was in my software development journey and I told her I had worked on a couple of projects on my own and had some relevant coursework at Wake Tech. She offered invaluable advice on project ideas and LinkedIn optimization, which proved instrumental as I dived deeper into JavaScript and React, culminating in my first React-based real estate web app. Despite initial challenges, Vishali's ongoing feedback and guidance kept me motivated and on track.
After my meeting with Vishali, I decided to further enhance my skills on JavaScript and React through some of the resources she suggested. One of the key takeaways from the meeting was to not just learn, but to also implement what you’re learning. I took it upon myself to build a real estate react web app, using the knowledge from her resources. It was my first react project so naturally I ran into some problems, but anytime I asked her for help with my code she would review it and send me feedback along with a solution. Overall, at this point I was excited about the program and liked the direction things were going in. Then she set a meeting for Wednesday 05/22.
Meeting 3:
Wednesday May 22, 2024
Conducted via Google Meet, this session was particularly enlightening as Vishali introduced concepts like Cypress for testing, encouraged open-source contributions, and suggested exploring React hooks such as useState. Intrigued by her suggestion to build a meme generator, I pivoted to create a fortune cookie generator—a project that not only enhanced my coding skills but also deepened my understanding of software development best practices.
After the meeting, I decided to look into the topics we had discussed starting with Cypress testing. I developed a understanding of Cypress and some of it’s many features. Then I did research on how to contribute to open-source repositories on GitHub, like how to fork a repository, create a different branch, make edits to code, merge branches, and make a pull request. Then I developed a basic JavaScript app, the fortune cookie generator. I sent Vishali a few projects. I worked on since our last meeting, including the fortune cookie generator, and she gave feedback on my projects and progress.
During this time, a Red Hat B.U.I.L.D. Mid-Point sync up meeting was scheduled.Meeting 4: Mid-Point Meeting
Thursday June 20, 2024
This meeting was very simple and straightforward. It was a meeting to track progress and touch base with where everyone was at, and shared our experiences with the program so far. They also asked if we had any suggestions on things that we would like to implement in the program. Suggestions for a interview prep were made. They also mentioned that there will be a résumé workshop coming up this year. Overall, it was positive feedback from both mentors and mentees. Me and Vishali set up another meeting via Google meets for the following week.
Meeting 5:
Tue Jun 25, 2024
In our recent meeting, Vishali and I revisited our goals, focusing on prioritizing key topics for deeper exploration rather than spreading too thin. Vishali suggested that I should focus on five topics and get really good at three of them. Also mentioning that I should not try to learn everything, not only because it can get overwhelming, but also there is a lot of things that are job specific and can be taught on the job. She also suggested I should learn graphQL and try to implement my learnings into a project. Also sharing a valuable resource for learning containerization like Docker and Kubernetes (TechNana).
Meeting 6:
TBA
Coming Soon