guideformentors (PDF)

UCLU Technology Society
Mentorship Programme
// Guide for mentors
What is the TechSoc Mentorship Programme?
The goal of the mentorship programme is to help new students integrate better with
the technology society at UCL in an effort to build a more diverse and inclusive
community. University can be a difficult place to start learning about technology or feel
part of an established community from the get go.
By providing advice, support and guidance, the mentorship programme looks to create
a personal connection for incoming members to help overcome any fears they may
have and help them make the most out of what the society has to offer.
What will you do as a mentor?

• Provide guidance and advice to mentees
• Answer questions your mentees may have about technology
• Refer them to appropriate resources/learning material to help them get further into
•

tech
Be somebody they know at events so they can feel more involved at events

What you won’t do as a mentor…

• Write code / build an application / work for your mentees in any way
• Act as a point of sales for TechSoc, you aren’t required to promote the society’s
•
•
•
•
•

events/activities.
Put down other societies to make TechSoc seem better, just be honest without being
offensive to other societies
Force information out of members, don't ask for numbers or emails unless they offer
it to you
Do coursework/homework for them
Offer pastoral support, any incidents should be escalated to Vicky
Do anything that will land you in jail, or worse, the society in trouble

Are there set of requirements to be a mentor?
If you align with the society’s vision of building an all inclusive community and want to
help new students feel welcome, then you are perfect! You don’t have to come from a
certain department nor have a certain level of technical knowledge. Don’t hesitate to
sign up if you think you are shy! Becoming a mentor will help your people skills to
develop. 




We’ll provide you with plenty of support to ensure you are happy!
How much time will this take?
This is a voluntary programme and you will not be expected to spend more than 1 hour a
week at a TechSoc event. You should think of it as attending TechSoc events as you
normally do, but helping your mentees feel involved in the event.
We hope that you will be available on Slack to answer questions your mentees may
have over the week but you will not be expected to baby sit anyone. If you wish to spend
more time with your mentees, you are more than free to do so.
Am I assigned mentees?
We will try to match mentees with mentors based on their interests so that a
connection can be more easily formed. Initially, you will be assigned a group of mentees
but we hope that mentors will introduce their groups to other mentor groups so people
get to know one another.




The groups assigned are not formally set, they only allow for initial structure. Mentees
are free to move around and talk to other mentors too and mentors are encouraged to
talk to as many members as possible.
How is this different from the department transition programme?


The purpose of a transition programme is to help students settle into their academic
degrees as it is department based. We hope that the TechSoc mentorship programme
will help new students settle into a community within UCL and connect with people as
we strongly feel that what students do outside their degrees is vitally important to a
happy and enjoyable student experience at UCL. 




Great, how do I sign up?
Fill in the short sign up form here: https://mentorship-programme.typeform.com/to/
X7p05f
I still have questions/suggestions, who should I talk to?







Hassle Matineh Akhlaghinia on Facebook or send her an email at zcabmak@ucl.ac.uk
Alternatively, you can also contact the society at contact@techsoc.io or drop us a
message on our Facebook page!