Mentorship Panel: Experience is the Teacher

Jan Ballard
07 Oct 2021
2:00 pm -2:50 pm CDT

Mentorship Panel: Experience is the Teacher

Jan Ballard leads a discussion on o mentorship case study of an ongoing industry/academic program in Dallas–Fort Worth that brings professionals at Dialexa together with eager students in design, tech, business, and engineering to problem solve real-world projects in an eight-week, sprint-based experience. Students get experience, while professionals mentor young professionals. It is a way to quickly move from campus to career. Plus, companies get to identify key talent at local universities before they graduate.

In this session, the discussion will include:

  • How to leverage mid-career and seasoned professionals in a mentoring relationship with area college students to create learning outcomes for both groups, including industry practices, project management, and networking.
  • Ways to expand opportunities for cross-disciplinary learning by simulating multi-talented teamwork in an agile environment, intensified by virtual collaboration due to COVID-19, to create successful outcomes for all participants.
  • Discuss how to assemble three university cohorts with three academic majors (design, engineering, and business) and invite new UXers, to build a stronger tech hub hiring pipeline for the North Texas region.