Listen to and watch Eric Johnson, CTO at GitLab, introduce this GitLab mentorship program and speak about his experience with mentorship:
The Learning and Development team is hosting the first company-wide mentorship program in FY23 Q1. It's inspired by the success of the Minorities in Tech Mentoring Program and the Women at GitLab mentorship program. Included in this program is an opt-in async-first option.
To stay up to date about future iterations of this program, please complete this interest form
Learn more about the purpose and results of mentorship on the mentor handbook page.
Review the program structure below to understand what is expected of mentees and mentors who apply for this program:
| Program Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Initial program kickoff | 25-minute discussion pannel with mentors, mentees, and company leadership held at multiple time zones. Attendance is required and the sessions will be recorded. |
| Mentorship Sessions | Mentors and mentees meet sync or async every other week for 30-minutes for 5 months (with the option to extend). Sessions are led by the mentee and should be focused on specific goals. Participation is required. |
| Mentor/Mentee Workbook | Mentorship resources are available for all mentor/mentee pairs, including suggested articles, strategies for goal setting, and sample meeting agendas. Resources use is encouraged but not required. |
| Mentor/Mentee Training | Completion of the self-paced How to be a Good Mentor or Mentee course on LinkedIn Learning is required of all mentors and mentees. If you prefer text-based learning or don't have a LinkedIn Learning license, you can instead review these slides based on the LinkedIn course. |
| End of Program Celebration | A live session will be hosted at multiple time zones at the end of the program. The call will be a small group discussion format and run for 25 minutes. |
This program includes an opt-in, async-first structure to increase opportunity for team members in any time zone to pair with mentors company-wide. Async-first means that mentees can pair with mentors in any time zone. Both mentor and mentee applications will have a question asking if the applicant is interested and willing to be paired with an async-first mentee.
This is a pilot to test the success of async-first mentorship at Gitlab. The test will help inform how we design future mentorship programs.
Async first pairs should consider making the following adjustments to the program structure above:
Review the program timeline below for the next iteration of this program which will run from March through July of 2022
| Date | Description | Related Resources |
|---|---|---|
| 2021-12 | Begin program planning | Planning Issue |
| 2021-12-20 | Share interest form | Interest form for team members |
| 2022-01-31 | Call for Mentors | Application Link |
| 2022-01-31 | Call for Mentees | Application Link |
| 2022-02-11 | Applications Close | |
| Week of 2022-03-04 | Pairing of mentor relationships complete and communicated to applicants | |
| Weeks of 2022-03-04 and 2022-03-07 | Mentor/Mentee pre-program coffee chats | |
| 2022-03-09 and 2022-03-10 | Initial program Kickoff meeting | |
| March through July 2022 | Async and Sync Mentorship Sessions happening every other week | |
| Week of 2022-07-18 | End of program celebration | 2022-07-19 @ 12pm, 6pm, and 10:30pm UTC |
As a mentor, you benefit from:
Applications will be prioritized based on:
Applications are currently closed. To stay up to date about future iterations of this program, please complete this interest form
Applying for a mentor does not guarantee you a spot in the program and eligibility will be evaluated based on criteria above.
If you've participated in a previous GitLab mentor program, you are welcome to apply again!
As a mentee, you benefit from:
Applications will be prioritized on many points including:
Applications are currently closed. To stay up to date about future iterations of this program, please complete this interest form
Applying for a mentee does not guarentee you a spot in the program, and eligibility will be evaluated based on criteria above.
If you've participated in a previous GitLab mentor program, you are welcome to apply again!
Mentors and mentees will complete a pre-program and end of program survey to collect feedback, assess skills, and determine if goals set during mentor/mentee relationships have been set.
Success of this program will be measured by:
Can I participate as both a mentor and a mentee?
Yes, this is a possibility. It's important that team members talk with their managers to discuss their capacity to participate in both roles in this program. Participation in both roles will require a 2hr commitment per month (two 30 minute sessions as a mentor and two 30 minute sessions as a mentee).
It's possible that we will have a shortage of mentors and be unable to complete all mentor/mentee pairs. If there is a shortage of mentors and you've applied as both a mentor and a mentee, you will be assigned only as a mentor in this program.
I'd like to participate but I can't commit the entire length of the program. Can I still apply?
If you cannot commit to the 5 month program, please consider applying for a future mentorship program at GitLab. It's important that both mentors and mentees are available for the full 5 month program to achieve the best results.
I'm not eligible to be a mentor or a mentee in this program. What are my options for future participation?
Team members are always encouraged to build mentor/mentee relationships independently. You can find resources and a list of available mentors in the Learning and Development handbook
Questions, comments, and feedback can be posted in the #mentoring slack channel.
The following section outlines results of the first iteration of this company wide mentroship program, organized from March to July, 2022.
Additional metrics and results we be added as the program progresses
