The Time I Got Selected in WWC Delhi Mentorship Program — III
A blog series on how I got shortlisted in this Program and my journey told through a collection of entries in the duration of five weeks.
What Happened In My Third Week
Entry (7)
Date: February 14, 2021
Time: 12 A.M.
Alright, I received another mail from Women Who Code, Delhi. It contained yet another brief for this week’s meeting.
The Purpose of this Week was to discuss with your mentor about applying for different kinds of scholarships and what kinds existed and also some tips on how to increase your chances on getting selected.
Last week, I had a list of things to do which I didn’t get to mention in the previous blog. We had discussed that preparing a mini-project on my areas of interest in research would be a great idea. I had also discussed paid internships with my Mentor who decided to connect me with relevant people in the field to get Design Reviews and Portfolio criticism from. I had said that I would send over my Resume to her soon, for her take on it as well as select a topic for my mini-project. I still had to update my Resume. So, I got to work.
Entry (8)
Date: February 17, 2021
Time: 12:51 A.M.
I finally had my things ready and sent her my attachments before the meeting which was scheduled today, started.
Entry (9)
Date: February 17, 2021
Time: 4:30 P.M.
The meeting started. Ms. Gupta first went over my Resume and critiqued it.
Things To Be Noted:
- The Experiences in your Resume should have relevance to the position you are applying for.
- The details of the experiences in the Resume should very specific and not generic.
- The Resume should have a link to the Portfolio website, possibly something that you have deployed on your own.
- The Relevant Projects in the Resume should have explanations and clickable links attached/available.
I absorbed all of the advice and made it a point to include all of those changes as soon as feasible.
We also discussed trying for the Outreachy Program and Google’s Women Techmakers Scholarship. It was decided that I would send over my Application answers for some more critique from her as soon as possible because the deadline was approaching for Outreachy. I also got around to deciding my Mini-project subject and resolved to get started on it within this week. With this, our meeting ended after getting another raincheck on our conversation.
Moving on to the subject of Scholarships, a crucial aspect of writing a great answer is emphasizing it with examples and references. Amplifying your essay/written piece with numbers, facts, stories, graphs, project or blog links builds up a realistic background or image of you for the person who’s reading.
Whilst writing the Initial Application for Outreachy, I supplemented my answers to the essay questions with figures, real-life examples and links to Research papers for better reference. These kinds of scholarships and opportunities which want to address diversity and under-representation in the community, seek a wholesome essay which must cover three areas— Technical background and skillset of the applicants, apprehension over their diversity and under-representation, as well as how exactly they plan on utilizing their skills to conquer some of these issues that they face.
It is also of great importance to mention how you can contribute to that particular organization. As it is equally necessary to elaborate on how that organization will contribute to your development, Organizations are generally very keen on hearing about this. Since, it indirectly expresses your invested interest in the opportunity and helps in affirming your Career Goals and dedication to the Organization.
In conclusion, a perfect answer develops an image in the reviewer’s mind about how your background and skillset match each other and would be capable in elevating you to become an asset to the organization.
You might be thinking of why I need to contribute to Open Source and why am I so particular about my participation. That’s because Open Source software needs contribution in all kinds of areas and really diverse kinds of organizations participate in these programs. There are several Design tools and Software that I use which are open sourced. This means that I can iterate parts of a software that I and people from all over the world use every day. This makes the idea of contributing very exciting and acts as a sort of motivation for me to continue on trudging on to this path.
Got a lot of things to work on. Hope you(the one who’s reading) learnt something from this blog, you can share what you thought of it to me in the comments below or find me on SNS! I’d love to talk. I am super talkative(don’t know if it’s something I should brag about, though) and I’d love to be of assistance.
Fingers crossed for the next week. Wish me luck and scene!
