Teresa Karr's essay, "My Inspiration: Marie Wieck," was one of the many wonderful entries received in the
second annual MentorNet essay contest, in which we asked mentors and protégés to write about their experiences.
This profile shares her story.
Mentor Inspires, Delivers Business Insight
Teresa Karr, a computer engineering major at Iowa State University, took a breather from schoolwork this spring.
But she wasn't on vacation or even spending a semester abroad—she was an intern in IBM's Extreme Blue program.
During the12-week program she was part of a product team and learned Java, honed her object-oriented programming
skills, gave product pitches to executives, and got other hands-on business experience. "It was really
intense," says Karr. "It's not often a student like me gets an experience like that."
Karr heard about Extreme Blue from her MentorNet mentor, Marie Wieck, a vice president at IBM. And Wieck did
more than pass on the information: she helped Karr fine-tune her résumé and then passed it along to the
Extreme Blue recruiter; she also gave her protégé advice about the interview process, a rigorous screening
that included a five hours of phone interviews and an online test.
Wanted: Business Insight
When Karr was looking for a mentor in 2003, getting insight into working at a big company was a priority,
and she wanted a female mentor because women are "hard to find" in computer engineering.
"It was a hard decision but Marie has a high-level job and she manages to balance work and life outside of
work," says Karr. "She sounded pretty inspirational."
Karr has received a wealth of insight and tips on the working world from her mentor, such as starting a business
network by staying in touch with friends after graduation. And imparting that kind of professional development
advice is one of the most important aspects of mentoring, says Wieck, who has been a MentorNet mentor for
four or five years.
"I can let [protégés] know what it's like moving from school to the real world," she says. "I just try to pass
along what I do [in my work]; it's valuable just letting them know that there are people who have done it and
that you can do it, too."
"[School] doesn't teach anything about how to succeed in the workplace," says Karr. "Being able to learn about
how things work at a company definitely makes it less scary, and helps prepare me for the future."
She says her exchanges with Wieck complement and extend the advice she receives from an on-campus mentor, who
is one of her instructors.
"They have different perspectives," Karr says. "It's nice being able to have both. But I don't think I've
ever been able to talk to a teacher and share things about my personal life."
Critical Knowledge: Work/Life Balance
Knowing how to balance the personal with the professional is critical to Karr's choice to stay on her career
path. She wants to do graduate work in computer science and study graphical programming and virtual reality;
working at a big company is also a goal.
"Hearing about Marie's experience has made me realize how busy and complex it can be," she says. "Knowing that
ahead of time has really helped. It's great having someone who can give advice on life and things in the
workplace - and give me connections. I wouldn't have had that without MentorNet.
"And it's nice to hear how she balances life outside of work," Karr continues. "That totals out to how to
succeed, because if you don't have time for things outside of work, the work's going to suffer."