Mentorship Matters with Citrix

Mentoring Makes A Difference

Did you know that mentoring has a positive impact on both the mentee and the mentor? Turns out, it's great for everyone involved! Mentoring gives everyone involved the opportunity to learn something more — a deeper understanding of the organization, enhanced skill recognition, improved job satisfaction, and so many more benefits!

At LaunchCode, we're continually impressed by our LaunchCoders’ technical acumen, passion for coding, broad life experiences and persistence in pursuing the career of their dreams. Working toward this dream often means spending hours upon hours learning Computer Science fundamentals, building portfolio projects, forking code in GitHub, rifling through StackOverflow, resume polishing, interview prep, and much, much more. Often our candidates will ask, “What does a practicing developer do all day?”

"Citrix's many successful developers are eager to share their knowledge with aspiring technologists"

While we're always happy to give our candidates an idea of what to expect, we’re lucky to have phenomenal partners like Citrix, the secure enterprise digital workspace masters, to give them hands-on learning. Their many successful developers are eager to share their knowledge with aspiring technologists.

In April, Citrix invited us to bring 30 South Florida LaunchCoders to their office for an afternoon of speed mentoring with employees from across their software engineering, IT and business intelligence teams. Over the course of the afternoon, each candidate got to spend an intensive session with five Citrix employees listening to full-time technologists share their knowledge. They discussed an array of topics, including a day in the life of an employee at a cutting edge technology firm, recommended types of skills and coding languages to learn and professional challenges.

"Communication skills and teamwork are important parts of day-to-day work as a professional developer"

One LaunchCoder remarked between switching from one mentor to the next that they hadn't realized communication skills and teamwork, as opposed to coding ability alone, were such important parts of day-to-day work as a professional developer.

Following the speed mentoring session, our candidates were able to continue mingling with their Citrix mentors over lunch. The day culminated in a tour of one the main floors used by the software development team featuring a pool table, snack bar, and bean bag lounge — because that’s what you have when you’re one of South Florida’s leading tech employers!

"It was exciting to see the high level of engagement"

Jo Moskowitz, Citrix VP of Corporate Culture and event organizer said, “It was exciting to see the high level of engagement from both the LaunchCoders and Citrix employees during this speed mentoring session. It was truly a win/win for all, as LaunchCoders received valuable insights from our employees and our Citrites had a chance to give back in a meaningful and rewarding way.”

Utilizing our partnership with South Florida tech powerhouse Citrix was such a positive experience for everyone involved, we can’t wait to do it again!

 

Happy Coding!

/// Want to get your team involved in this type of supportive team-building experience? Our company partners love getting access to local up-and-coming tech talent while supporting our programs through these mutually enriching opportunities. Become a LaunchCode company partner or volunteer with us. We're sure you'll love our LaunchCoders as much as we do!