Join our growing Meet a Mentor
community and connect to
mentors.
The best part? It’s all free.
Want to know more? Great, read on.
What are we all about?
Our community has over 1300 members from the tech industry, mainly specialising in, but not limited to, Java and front end technologies.
This includes over 400 mentors who range from engineers to CTOs.
By matching mentors and mentees within the community, Meet a Mentor allows you to open a dialogue
to discuss new technologies, career goals and troubles.
Meet a Mentor also offers an approachable, friendly mentor matching service within the community.
We run an active online Slack group, meetups and 1-2-1 mentorship opportunities.
Now we think that’s pretty special. Meet a Mentor is a free initiative founded and run by RecWorks Ltd.
Why connect with a mentor?
Mentors in the Meet a Mentor community can help you answer a variety of questions related to your career, whatever stage you’re at. Below are some examples of typical questions we receive from people at various levels.
We’ll let the numbers do the talking.
What happens when you sign up?
Well, a real human matchmaker will match you up with suitable mentors. Then, all of the magic happens in our dedicated Slack group, where we make introductions to mentors. This is also where regular discussions take place. If you’ve never used Slack, it’s a simple online platform for communication with over 6 million daily users. A modern-day MSN.
After that it’s up to you on how you build your relationship within the network and with your mentor or mentee. Meet for coffee, chat on Skype, invite them to your wedding. The ball’s in your court
FAQs
The initiative was founded by Barry Cranford and continues to be run by him and the team at RecWorks. Meet a Mentor also has the backing of The London Java Community (LJC), the London CTOs, the Front Engineers and a number of other communities with many of our mentors coming directly from these communities after seeing the value of being part of the groups.
Nope. All things Meet a Mentor are free. All that is asked of you is that you are enthusiastic and want to learn. But hey, we do accept gifts.
We’ve been laying our foundations since 2007, originally as a branch of the established London Java Community (LJC). Meet a Mentor was created by Barry Cranford, who wanted to close the gap between academia and industry, offering a helping hand to students who were just starting out. This has since evolved to include all levels in the industry. Barry identified a deeper need for meaningful connections and career conversations and made it happen. With a range of CTOs, engineers and senior developers coming together, Meet a Mentor opens the door to a network of experienced individuals.
Meet a Mentor has been in the making since 2007, from the conception of The London Java Community (LJC). 2012 saw speed mentoring events for students, with the group evolving to include many levels within the industry since then.
In 2017 the focus changed from this style of event to creating a space for personal intros. So, the Meet a Mentor Slack group was born. Since this point, hundreds of introductions have been made. Check out the numbers to see how many we’ve made to date.
Not at all, many of the mentors and mentees speak over Skype or on phone calls if and when meetings are not possible.
Once you’ve joined the slack group you will be approached as soon as possible (usually within a few hours) by Helen or Barry. They will introduce themselves, tell you more about the service and provide options of potential mentors that we could introduce you to.
Fancy hearing a bit more?
Take a look at our latest blog posts.
I’ve just been introduced to a mentor, what should I do next?
If this is you — Congratulations! You’ve just been introduced to someone that could change your life. It’s hard to overstate the impact a mentor can have on your career, your life and your mental health. They can not only help with your known unknowns (the things you know you don’t know) but can also […]
9 Reasons why you should join our Aspiring CTOs group
At RecWorks we have recently created a new initiative designed to inspire and develop a diverse new generation of CTOs within London and beyond. It is called Aspiring CTOs. The group has just over 50 members, here are some of the recurring themes we have seen in the reasons they told us made them sign-up: […]
Don’t just take our word for it
Good opportunity to meet people that might need help with something that you know – rewarding experience to be able to help other people.
Cesar Tron-Lozai
Mentor & Mentee
11 Introductions
Meet a Mentor provided me with tangible connections to the tech industry. Since connecting with two different mentors, I have a better sense of what my options are post-graduation and life-long contacts.
Colleen Stabler
Mentee
2 Introductions
It is inspiring to hear other people’s experiences and to discover that some limitations are based purely on a believe system rather than reality.
Sebastian Ovide
Mentor & Mentee
5 Introductions
It’s definitely a great learning opportunity for me as a mentor. I enjoy seeing what other peers struggle with and how my experience can be helpful to them. I feel like I learn from them just as much.
Jakub Borys
Mentor & Mentee
15 Introductions
Being paired with mentors that have knowledge in areas I requested, has been one of the most amazing parts. I haven’t come across that anywhere else at the moment.
Andre Hitchman
Mentee
3 Introductions
Meet The Team
Meet a Mentor wouldn’t be possible without the brilliant team at RecWorks.
Take a peek at who’s behind it all.
Barry Cranford
More info coming soon.
Barry Cranford
Barry is the founder of the community. He is passionate about all things career related. He has a background in recruitment and is also a founder of RecWorks, a recruitment company in the Java field, as well as a number of Meetup groups including the London Java Community. The Meet a Mentor was his brain child, he saw it as a way to bring together the two worlds of career advice and community. Passionate about helping people find careers they love, tech communities, Lean startups and his family.
Barry
Founder
Helen Lewis
Helen is our ultimate Meet a Mentor matchmaker. She has even run her own introduction & dating agency (we think that may be where her love of matchmaking comes from). From 25 years at HMRC to recruitment, dating agency to driving instructor, Helen’s background is as varied as they come. She adores being able to help the Meet a Mentor community, ensuring that our mentors and mentees are set up for success from day one. She also loves nothing more than playing with her dogs, her Xbox and her motorbike (just not all at once). She’s fun-loving, approachable and ready to help.
Helen
Mentor
Match-Maker
Dominique Carlo
Dominique is our operational goddess. With a background in admin and over 5 years in recruitment, Dominique manages the day to day operations of RecWorks like a dream. She enjoys being a part of the community, building relationships and contributing to you achieving your career goals through Meet a Mentor. She loves all things food, books and tv boxsets. Don’t we all?
Dominique
Operational
Genius
Emili Hone
More info coming soon.
Emili Hone
Emili comes with a background in HR and career growth guidance. A professional storyteller, Emili creates copy that tells you how great MaM is. Being part of a community that lives and breathes career growth is her dream. She loves mindfulness practise, spicy food and is totally obsessed with one day owning a dog. So listen closely and share her blogs absolutely everywhere.
Emili
Storyteller
Arkadiusz Ostrowski
More info coming soon.
Arkadiusz Ostrowski
A former salesman, Arkadiusz has been in web development for a few years and is enjoying his varied contracts. Meet a Mentor offers him a great site to build, alongside knowing that he is encouraging others to open up to mentorship. He’s also a keen mountain biker, meditator and book reader. He admits to being 85% fruit because he eats so much of it – that must be why our site is so sweet.
Arkadiusz
Tech
Support
Get connected,
Starting here.