At
Telerik Academy Alpha, we help you develop crucial programming skills for a fulfilling IT career. The 6-months path to a better life and future-proof job is not without challenging moments, but your hard work is bound to result - adding “Developer“ to your CV and joining the leading industry in Bulgaria.
However, you won’t walk this path alone.
You’ll have our team right by your side through the whole 6 months (and even after that).
Along with the tech and soft skills trainers, career coaches, and program coordinators, you’ll get guidance from a team of mentors - those who have walked this same path before you. They are Alpha alumni who will help and support you in succeeding in the program and giving you technical and career guidance.
In this blog, you’ll meet two of them (Maria and Vasil), but before that - let’s elaborate on why having Alpha graduates by your side is key for your development into a successful Master Junior talent.
Mentors: the cornerstone of your successful IT career
The
Telerik Academy Alpha programs are built from the ground up to help you become a developer in just 6 months. It’s the fastest proven way to kickstart your IT career, and you’ll have to master a lot in a short period.
Once you become an Alpha student, you’ll be part of a tight-knit group of up to 45 like-minded people to receive personalized training. Together you’ll go through 800+ hours of engaging practical tech and soft skills training, hackathons, real-world projects and learning content.
During the first part of the program, you are all divided into “buddy groups“ of 5-7 learners. And your buddy group will have mentors in addition to all the tech and soft skills trainers. The mentors will guide and help you overcome challenges as they know what you are experiencing. They will help you learn better and more efficiently through their personal experience and knowledge, so you will easily fill any learning gaps during the program.
Mentors will return once again in your last weeks in the Alpha program to help you with advice on your final real-world project that you build from scratch. Also, they will share with you their personal experience with the job-hunting process in addition to your sessions with our career coach - from ideas on how to choose the right company for you to how to prepare for a job interview. As your mentors, the Telerik Academy Alpha alumni will help you accelerate your learning curve and adapt quicker to the life of a developer.
Now that you know a little bit more about the role of the mentors, it’s time to hear what
Maria Topchieva, Alpha C# graduate and Cloud Automation Developer at VMware, and
Vasil Christov, Alpha JavaScript graduate and Software Developer at Infosys Limited Bulgaria, want to share with you. After completing the Alpha program, they decided to continue contributing to the Telerik Academy’s community as mentors.
Here’s what they shared with us about this experience.
Hi Maria! You graduated from Alpha C# in December 2020, and at the beginning of 2021, you choose to be part of the mentor program at the next Alpha C# program. Was it a hard decision to make?
Maria: Despite my anxiety about not being prepared enough to be a mentor, I followed my impulse to try. I had the excellent example that my mentors gave me when I was a Telerik Academy Alpha student, so I decided to follow their example and contribute to the community. I wanted to be beneficial and give courage to those after me because I knew how challenging it could be in different stages of the program and how important it was to have additional support.
Hi Vasil! You made the same choice as Maria soon after graduating from Alpha JavaScript. What led you to the decision to become a mentor?
Vasil: The mentorship program at Telerik Academy Alpha is valuable for both the students (mentees) and their mentors. It is a calm and secure environment where you can unfold and develop a wide range of practical team skills. Being a mentor is an exciting opportunity for personal development and growth.
What is it like to be a mentor, and what does it give you?
Maria: Being a mentor at Telerik Academy gave me a lot. I was a mentor in one of the first modules and during the development of the final project, and the two experiences were quite different. I was proud that after graduation, my team quickly found jobs in the IT sector. I guided them through the tech tasks and the theory, the development of their CVs, and the interview preparation.
As I went through the program again - this time as a mentor, I also benefited from it, reinforcing my knowledge and increasing my self-confidence. That paid off during an unplanned job interview which led to a proposal for a better position - the one that I currently hold.
I met new people during the mentor program with whom we shared common interests. While they were still at the Academy during that time, preparing to become developers, today, they are part of the IT industry and part of my contact network. We continue to exchange information, resources, and opportunities.
Vasil: To me, being a mentor means guiding the team. Each team discusses and makes decisions together, and the mentor can present a different perspective. Of course, it is also helpful for a mentor to remind the students to hold their focus on the main goals of the project so that everyone can ultimately be proud of the result.
The mentorship program allowed me to work with many different people and it helped me train my technical and soft skills. The mentoring program is a great first step if anyone has ambitions to be a team manager or project leader someday.
From your experience, what is the most significant challenge for the Alpha students, and how do you help them deal with it?
Maria: The biggest challenge for Alpha students, especially those with no previous experience (like I was), is the volume of new information and its speed.
During the meetings with my team, I used the time to guide them on how to get through the week's material and to discuss the most difficult tasks for them. I gave them advice on what to emphasize and sent them additional materials on some topics. I encouraged them to work as a team and help each other. During the program, it's essential to stay focused when studying and to have time for rest so that you don't burn out. I used myself as an example - it was a challenging road for me too, but I graduated from the Alpha program, and here I am today, inspiring the people following the same path.
Vasil: Uncertainty is usually the biggest challenge for every student - the uncertainty of how you will be able to achieve your IT career start after Telerik Academy Alpha, the uncertainty of whether the knowledge you acquire will be enough to find an IT job fast. Talking about my experience during and after
Telerik Academy Alpha JavaScript, I manage to clear these uncertainties and give the students more courage. Often, I compare problems that they solve in the program with real case studies from my workplace. They always look alike. This increases the students' confidence that their knowledge is enough to succeed in the IT industry.
What advice would you give to our new and future Telerik Academy students?
Maria: Congratulations on choosing the best academy for your IT career start! It's a challenging but glorious road.
It is essential to stay focused on the
Alpha program to handle it best and maximize your participation here. In the next few months, be present, here and now, follow the steps that are well planned for you, listen to the advice of your trainers and mentors and trust them. You need to be purposeful, motivated, and persevering. And if you find it difficult at some point - share with your mentors - that's why we are here. Together, we can look for a solution that works best for you. In the end, all the effort is worth it.
Vasil: Be stubborn. When you hit a wall, don't give up. Keep hitting the wall - if you don't break it, try to go around it, above it or make a tunnel under it. Knowledge helps a lot and all the knowledge in the IT industry is achieved mainly through persistence in solving problems.
Your mentors, trainers and career coach are waiting for you at
Telerik Academy Alpha to prepare you for the most exciting career path out there. Are you ready to join the IT sector and future proof your life? Our
6-month Alpha programs will lead you there.
