This summer, VMware piloted a mentoring program for our female interns: each of our incoming women were offered the opportunity to be paired with a senior woman at the company.

I had my own (female) intern reporting to me, doing awesome research over the course of the 12-week internship.  I also participated in this program, and mentored a design intern.  For me as a mentor, it was a great way to get to meet with someone who I wouldn’t’ve gotten to spend a lot of time with otherwise, and hear about what life is like for woman who is currently working on her CS undergraduate degree.

Over the course of the 12 weeks, we talked about a lot of things, including (but definitely not limited to:

• what it’s like to do user experience at VMware
• her work with the women in CS program at her university
• the different career paths available, and how career paths often take unexpected and awesome twists and turns
• what it’s like to juggle two professional careers, and the tradeoffs that you have to make along the way
• opportunities to help out other women understand the value of a CS degree

… and so much more.  I’ve only barely scratched the surface.

It was a really good experience for me.  Answering questions makes you think about things, and hearing the perspective of someone who is new to the field is always a good reminder about what we can do to help new people get established.

The best part about this is, I get to see both of these interns again soon.  They’re both going to be attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference this year.  I’ll be part of one of the panel sessions, how to influence without authority and why it is important.  I just noticed that Nikki, my research intern, was featured in the GHC news, writing about her first Grace Hopper Celebration (and wearing a VMware t-shirt, too!).  It’s my first GHC, so I’m excited to be able to participate too.