MENTORSHIP

WCE Mentorship Initiatives

What is Mentorship?

Mentorship enables community members to connect, share knowledge and skills, and gain valuable insights into topics they may need guidance on. For women working in engineering, mentorship is a vital foundation that supports one another.

WCE Mentorship Mission

Provide a safe place for members to connect
Develop a reliable, supportive community outside of work
Encourage diversity in discussion topics, from technical to career development
Create lifelong connections
Encourage peer-to-peer support

Upcoming Events

Check out our Events page for upcoming events!

WCE’s Peer-to-Peer Approach

One of the core principles of mentorship is “anyone can be a mentor,” and we want to promote this across our event types. Our main mentorship mixer aims to engage mentors at different experience levels and seniorities, from 5 to 25 years.

We want to provide an opportunity for our intermediate members to flex their mentoring skills and encourage them to share their experience with our younger members. In contrast, we want the same for our more experienced members, where they can find others with similar levels of experience. The idea is to emphasize that mentorship is not limited to senior members offering guidance to junior members; it can also occur among peers. Anyone can be a mentor!

Mentorship Program Elements

Annual In-Person Fall Event

Our annual mentorship mixer provides valuable opportunities for mentees and mentors across industries to connect. Since its inception, we have held this event to match mentors and mentees around current, relevant discussion topics. Topics have included burnout, career transitions, and adapting to the new norm. The event’s rotating format allows participants to address key topics and connect with peers in the industry.

Annual Virtual Spring Event

The spring mentorship mixer aims to make mentoring more accessible to our members by holding it online. This virtual mixer is a novel and unique experience that brings mentorship to the comfort of your home. Mentees and mentors are divided into breakout rooms, and desired topics are selected in advance, using the same format as the in-person fall event.

Quarterly Group Sessions (virtual or in person)

With our new group session initiative, we aim to provide a more intimate mentoring experience. These smaller virtual events feature one or two mentors and approximately ten mentees. This is a great opportunity to connect with the WCE community in a more casual, quieter environment, with a shorter time commitment than our larger events.

Continual Drop-In Mentorship

The drop-in mentorship initiative allows our members to submit questions about their ongoing mentorship via an anonymous form on our website. With this format, we hope the WCE community will have the support they need throughout the year and can connect with mentors at our events. We aim to address these questions through our newsletters and social media campaigns so that all our members can benefit.