The true value of being mentored
ScholarX write up part 3
Hello everyone,
As I have already mentioned in two of my previous articles, I was fortunate enough to be selected as a mentee for the ScholarX program. Following are the links for those two articles in case you missed those.
It’s nearly the end of the program so In this article I wanted to discuss about the things I got from being mentored and the importance of it so that you also might be inspired to be mentored in the future. I’ll list and elaborate on the three key benefits I got from the program in last six months.
1. Being able to see the broader picture
Compared to the knowledge I had when I was selected for the program, now I am much more knowledgeable about my passionate areas, thanks to the good mentorship I was fortunate to have. Before the program, I was seeing only a part of the industry and academic aspects of Machine learning, which is my desired field of study. But now I know what’s inside the box, what hardships and drawbacks lie behind the curtain. Believe me, It is not as same as it seems. And I believe seeing this broader picture helped me immensely when planning my future work.
2. Get a good vision to work on
Being passionate is not enough to pursue something. You have to have a clear vision about what exactly you want to do and who you want to be. And you need to have a clear plan of how you are going to achieve that goal. Finding that can be harder than you think. That’s where the advice and guidance of an expert can come in handy. When it comes to defining your vision and mission, having the appropriate direction may be quite beneficial.
3. Get good insights about the field I’m interested in
As I have already have mentioned before, I am a machine learning enthusiast. And I was fortunate enough to get a mentor who has the same passions as me (Dr. Anupiya Nugaliyadde). Throughout my mentorship period, I got many insights about the technical aspect of machine learning which helped me a lot in my projects involving machine learning. This is obviously one of the main advantages a student can take through good mentorship.
Those are the three key benefits I got from the 6 month mentoring period with my mentor. I hope you enjoyed this article series about good mentorship and its benefits. Thank you for reading and I’ll see with another article.
-Pasan Devin Jayawardene-
