An Unbiased Person Who Understands

It's nice to have an unbiased person ... who's not invested in things going a particular way.

Jean Hsu was a first-year graduate student in electrical engineering at the University of Texas when she signed up for a MentorNet mentor.

"I wasn't sure where my career was going - I was interested in the technical, semiconductor area of my field but also the business side of things," Jean says. "People seem to go for either business or engineering, and I don't see much combining of disciplines. I was hoping to get a mentor who had explored engineering and business and combined them in a job."

Jean was matched with John Wei, who's been a strategic marketing engineer in Intel Corporation's Solutions Enabling Group since receiving his master's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan two years ago. Coincidentally, Jean had applied at Intel for a junior-level version of John's job before she decided to go to graduate school. She wasted no time introducing herself.

Passion and work

"I was writing an introductory email to Jean when her first message popped up in my inbox," John says. "She's good about coming to me with things that are on her mind. For example, she was curious about why I chose the path I did. She knows it's important to do something she cares about, and she was headed down a computer path when she realized she enjoys marketing. She wanted to talk about what all this adds up to regarding her career choice."

I like to offer my perspective on what the workplace is really like.

John suggested that by taking her graduate degree to the right company, she might be able to live out many of her interests, Jean says.

"I asked him if he felt passionate about his work, and he said not 100 percent of the time, but he gave me examples of how he tries to keep things interesting," Jean says. "He likes cars, and he recently got to market an Intel chip that works in vehicles - a great way to marry work with a personal interest. And he participates in Intel programs that get him out into the community, which he says stimulates and satisfies him. He reassured me that there's a huge variety of things to do once you're in a company, that you don't have to feel pigeonholed. That allayed some of my fears and encouraged me."

Inside industry

In MentorNet surveys, student participants say that one of the most valuable benefits of having a mentor is obtaining information about industry, and John says he enjoys bringing that to protégés.

"I like to offer my perspective on what the workplace is really like" how to advance to the next level, what happens when you become more senior, how to deal with office politics. I appreciated hearing real-world information when I was a student, and I like to anticipate the next stages of my career," he says. "Jean is interested in knowing how work is different from school, and we've talked quite a bit about that."

This bigger-picture perspective has helped affirm her course of study, Jean says, and boosted her confidence.

"Going in, graduate school felt like a big experiment, and I quickly saw that most of the people in my group are very research-oriented. I worried that research would become my life and that I'd be working in the same area forever, but talking with John has helped me to view graduate school as a stepping stone," she says. "Also, I didn't know much about technical marketing before, and now I see that it encompasses a wide range of activities. Having heard John's story about going through engineering, then into marketing, I believe there'll be a good-paying job for me when I'm done with graduate school."

An unbiased advocate

More than a model of someone who combined engineering and business talents, more than insider information from the world of technical marketing, Jean appreciated having in John an unbiased advocate, she says.

"I can feel apprehensive turning to my advisor and asking, 'What happens if I don't want to continue with this degree?' An advisor is likely to say, 'This is the perfect degree.' I also hesitate to ask someone who knows me personally where I ought to go with my career, because what I get is their opinion," she says. "It's nice to have an unbiased person who understands the field I'm in and the options available and who's not invested in things going a particular way."

Jean says she didn't know what to expect of the mentoring experience with John and was pleased with how it unfolded.

"At first I was worried and wondered, How is this relationship supposed to go? How should I write my emails? What should I ask? Then I realized, it's just what I make of it. I can ask what I want to ask and not be afraid that I'm not like others," she says. "Turns out, this relationship was the perfect fit for me. I'd like to keep in touch with John, I'd like to have another mentor while I'm a student, and I think it'd be great to have a mentor in the workplace eventually. Dealing with authority figures can feel intimidating, and having someone to turn to makes a big difference."