We caught up with our newest mentor, Alex Kearns on his background in tech, why he chose to become a Tech Educators mentor, what advice he can give and keeping your knowledge moving forward in tech.
Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you got into a career in tech?
I have had an interest in technology for as long as I can remember. For me, the turning point was being given the opportunity to learn HTML as an extra curricular activity during my GCSEs. This sparked a fascination with software development which ultimately led to studying Computer Science at university and a career in tech.
What made you decide you wanted to give up your time to be a mentor?
I'm a firm believer in paying back the community. In some way, shape or form, every person in tech has benefitted from the community - whether through conferences and meetups or something as simple as the answer to a StackOverflow question. I am passionate about ensuring others get opportunities of equal value to those that I did, regardless of their background and circumstance.
What advice were you given early in your career that has stuck with you?
Push yourself and never stop learning. Tech is a forever moving industry and keeping skills up to date means career progression is much easier.
What do you think you can bring to mentoring the next generation of tech talent?
I think I have a well rounded view of working in the tech industry having worked for companies of various sizes. I do a lot of public speaking / content creation and can help individuals get started in that space also if it is something they wish to pursue.
Part of our full stack coding bootcamp support is offering time with mentors and experienced developers. To see if coding is for you, you can try our introduction to coding bootcamp - with our cohorts growing, we are always looking for new mentors. Please contact Tech Educators if this is something you are interested in.
About the Author
James has 8 years with Fortune 200 US firm ITW, experience of managing projects in China, USA, and throughout Europe. James has worked with companies such as Tesco, Vauxhall, ITW, Serco, McDonalds. James has experience in supporting start-up and scale up companies such as Readingmate, Gorilla Juice and Harvest London. James completed his MBA at the University of East Anglia in 2018.