WEST is a mentorship community for women and nonbinary software engineers. Founded by a woman engineer, for women engineers, WEST is an independent platform that connects women with a knowledgeable mentor based on their development goals. Find your mentor today.
Mentee Testimonials
Joy Ebertz
Principal Software Engineer, Split
WEST Mentor since 2016
““Joy is exactly the kind of mentor I hoped to be matched with! She’s a principal engineer, which I aspire to be at some point (or at least somewhere on that track). She is a great listener and asks lots of thought-provoking questions, leading me to come up with my own solutions.””
As a software engineer still early in my career, I was looking for guidance on how I wanted to grow as an engineer. My mentor Dhara was fantastic in providing me with outside perspective, which was backed by her expertise and experiences as an engineering manager. Our discussions were always fruitful, and helped me think through many decisions and process feedback. I am grateful for the time she invested in my growth, all while being a new mom and balancing a full workload.
— Kendal, software engineer
Steph has been an incredible mentor. She took the time to get to know me and act as a sounding board, venting board, or source of advice. I genuinely appreciate Steph's generosity in her time and for her unconditional support during a critical period when I was transitioning into a manager role. I will forever be thankful that Steph helped me shape my career and for her friendship.
— Belen, Data Science manager
John helped me outline a concrete plan for the things I wanted most - to take the next steps in my career of choice. Together we made a list of actionable items I used to incrementally move towards a DevOps/SRE position. We also spent time discussing my other goals (strategical thinking, and its applications in my current position), but I requested our emphasis to be on my direct career progression because that is what I felt most passionate about.
— Technical Support engineer, west mentee
Having Zack as my mentor has been crucial for my career development. He is proactive in how he cares for me as a mentee, which in turn gave me the confidence to better care for myself. Whenever Zack and I spoke about my career development goals, he takes a tremendous amount of time out of his day to conduct research, then send me a list of resources to help me achieve those goals. I have spent a great deal of my professional career being my own champion and motivating myself, so it is refreshing to not have to do that alone anymore. I have Zack who believes in me a lot more than I do myself. I look forward to building with Zack and continuing our friendship for years to come."
— moya, senior software developer
"Sunaina set up action items with me that not only got me close to my ultimate goal, but were also small and achievable in the timeline we set. She has been a great person to bounce ideas off of, and a mentor I can count on for thoughtful advice. She gave me a ton of perspective and different ideas and routes to strive towards my goals. Thanks for all your help during our partnership!"
— Software Engineer, west mentee
Shalini was a fantastic mentor, and I really enjoyed working with her! She has a lot of experience in leadership, which was one of my goals. I was able to make a lot of progress in that area because of all her great advice. Overall this was a great experience and I would definitely recommend it to others!
— Senior Quality Assurance Engineer, west mentee
"Shilpa helped me with team development, project planning and countless other things. With her advice and guidance, my time in management was very successful. This program has been very helpful. I am grateful I got to be part of it. I have learned and accomplished so much since working with Shilpa!"