Meet the Fortech Mentors @DPIT Academy 2022
29 September 202227 September 2022 | People
Continuously supporting the local tech community, we’re thrilled that our partnership with the DPIT Academy continues for the 8th year. For more than three months, the Fortech mentors from Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, and Brașov have been doing their best to guide the high school students in developing their projects. This is a great way to contribute to the development of tomorrow’s professionals.
As the program will end in October, we talked with our colleagues about this mentorship journey and what inspired them to join the challenge. Let’s meet them and their teams!
Table of Contents
Marius Cristescu – Java Software Architect, Cluj-NapocaWhat inspired you to be a mentor? Why did you decide to become a mentor in the DPIT program?
I can say that being a mentor is a passion I discovered relatively late. I worked on a project where we scaled up the team from 2 to 8 people quickly.
As we used a niche framework, the newcomers needed much support and guidance to get on track with the project. As a critical member of the project involved in it from the beginning, I oversaw the onboarding process.
I can say that this was the beginning of my journey as a mentor.
Over time, I discovered a passion for guiding young tech enthusiasts in their careers in IT. You know the saying, give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and feed him for a lifetime. I enjoy teaching young talents “how to fish” in IT. Seeing over time the great experiences of the mentors, some of them colleagues with whom I worked on the project at one time, I decided to get involved.
Helping young people start their journey in the field and seeing their results gives me a sense of satisfaction and the feeling that I also contributed to their professional development to a certain extent.
What was your DPIT mentoring experience, and how do you inspire and motivate your team?
The pandemic was challenging because of the lack of face-to-face discussions, but everything is much better this year. I love to see young people passionate about IT and motivated to learn.
I try to inspire them from my experience, to explain to them why they should do things in a certain way and how this can help them in the future. Their creativity motivates me to do research and try to always be up to date with what the young generation is passionate about, thus leaving my comfort zone. We code and spend time together outside work, which makes it easy for me to help them find the motivation to complete a rather complex project.
Marius and the Inka team. They are eager to build the best and most convenient way of finding your perfect fit, called FitMe.
Dragoș Petrașcu – Java Software Architect, Cluj-Napoca
What inspired you to be a mentor? Why did you decide to become a mentor in the DPIT program?
Acting as a teaching assistant for more than ten years was an excellent opportunity to develop my mentoring expertise. From my point of view, knowledge sharing is the most rewarding activity among all assignments related to software engineering.
Already holding a mentor position in our Education Department, I see the DPIT mentor position as a logical step forward. This position is an excellent opportunity to “spread the word” in our local community and, why not, create a network of potential teammates.
What was your DPIT mentoring experience, and how do you inspire and motivate your team?
Without previous experience in the DPIT program, I must rely on my technical and soft skills. To sum it up, I try to follow a leadership by example approach and Fortech’s core values (reliability, respect, striving for excellence) every day. Finally, I try to establish our familiar context: software craftsmanship.
DeBugged team, mentored by Dragoș. They aim to innovate the experience of going out in the city by developing the IXI (Improved eXperiences Instantly) application. Dragoș motivated them to work side by side in a team to build their software product.
Remus Pelle – .NET Software Developer, Oradea
What inspired you to be a mentor? Why did you decide to become a mentor in the DPIT program?
I’ve always liked being a teacher, explaining what I know to others. I liked it so much that I wanted to become a teacher before getting employed. Being a mentor sounded like a perfect opportunity to me. And I wasn’t disappointed. I love it so far!
What was your DPIT mentoring experience, and how do you inspire and motivate your team?
It is my second year as a mentor in the DPIT program, and from the beginning, I saw significant improvements from last year.
I was more organized since I knew what was coming our way and better understood how to approach some situations. As striving for perfection never ends, I already have improvements in mind for the next year. I feel like I got through and inspired my team early this year – I told them from the start what my strong points were, together with the weak ones. But I promised I would take the time to investigate if they needed help with something I’m not good at, and I did just that, which made most of them respect me even more.
I think treating them as equals and being friendly and my way of teaching through examples and explanations also helps. I also like getting involved all the the way, so I talk a lot with some of them.
Crystal Clear team. With the help of Remus, students discovered different passions. Some of them are skilled in coding, other in design, interface, the product itself, and in the marketing and entrepreneurship side.
Daniel Bran – .NET Software Architect, OradeaWhat inspired you to be a mentor? Why did you decide to become a mentor in the DPIT program?
In my first year of the DPIT program, I wanted to learn to be a great leader. After the first year, I decided to continue because the experience was excellent and I learned a lot. Besides, I enjoyed sharing the experience with students and giving back a bit of what I received from others.
What was your DPIT mentoring experience, and how do you inspire and motivate your team?
The experience in the DPIT program was terrific. All the teams I was mentoring had a lot of potential. I had to bring it to the light or show them the way of the IT force. Every year we won a prize, and we nearly-won the final contest.
There were a lot of great students, and we built a lot of applications.
I think the inspiration comes from the passion we share. If we love what we do, we will inspire others, but there is also effort.
You need to build motivation and ensure you have enough in critical moments. This is not simple. You need to give something which should come from the heart. I motivated the team to win the contest, set high expectations every year, and be on the stage.
This year George Balota, a brilliant mate, is co-mentor with me; together we will share cool stuff with the students.
I loved working with all of them and I am sure this program is an excellent opportunity for all students. Some of them are my mates now.
Daniel, George Balota and the Teachers team. Together, they want to give a helping hand to every person who needs to solve a job around the house and not only through the application developed by them. Whether you need help or want to offer one, they are here to make the interaction between a day laborer and an employer easier, faster, and safer.
Silviu Curuciuc – Senior Java Developer, Brașov
Silviu is mentoring CyberTech Farmers, our team from Brașov. Brought together by the DPIT Academy, the team aims at creating an application that will make more efficient the work of farmers and companies involved in agriculture. Its members hope to develop their skills during this time and to have fun.
