Mentorship at Clay 👨🏻🏫
Beginning in 2023, we kicked off our graduate program, where several departments at Clay were searching for the perfect entry-level position candidate to complement their department. Ani was one of the ‘lucky ones’ hired in the Back-end team as an intern.
Our software engineer Yigit is mentoring her in her journey at Clay to get her to hit the ground running.
Find out how Ani is experiencing Yigit’s mentorship and why both parties feel this mentorship is important:
Ani, how did your journey at Clay start?
“As a person with a bit of experience with programming and none with development, I decided to apply to the Backend Development Internship because an assessment day was planned. I thought it would be fun to get some idea about the field and try something new.”
“This mentorship helps Ani gain valuable insights, knowledge, and skills that she may not have acquired on her own.”
- Yigit, Software Engineer at Clay
Ani, can you tell us anything about the projects you’re working on?
“I am currently part of a scrum team that works on the SALTO KS Larry infrastructure at Clay. We are focusing on APIs for the Support and Commissioning websites of the company.”
Yigit, what is your role within Clay?
“I have worked as a software engineer at Clay for two years.”
Yigit, why do you think this mentorship is important?
“I would say that mentorship is important for both parties. From Ani's perspective, it provides an opportunity to learn from someone with more experience and expertise in a particular field. Also, it helps her gain valuable insights, knowledge, and skills that she may not have acquired on their own. If you look the other way around, mentorship also benefits me. I find the experience of helping others to be personally fulfilling and rewarding. Seeing Ani succeed and grow gives me a sense of pride and accomplishment.”
“Yigit's support takes the pressure off and makes me feel more confident in my work.”
- Ani, Back-end intern at Clay
Yigit, what has your role been as a mentor for Ani? How do you support her?
“I position myself as a guide for Ani. The most important thing is establishing a clear communication channel with her. After having a clear communication channel, we identified her goals. While she was achieving her goals, I was playing a supportive role. She had questions related to programming, our platform, or software engineering, and I answered them by sharing my knowledge and experience. At some point, she was ready to be part of the ‘Larry team’, and I encouraged her to take on her first task.”
Ani, how did you experience Yigit as a mentor so far?
“Yigit helped me a lot right off the start. He helped me understand how Clay works, what Backend developers should do, and my role within the company. He also supports me by constantly reiterating that it’s okay to find the new learning path difficult and that I should not give up. He also ensured I knew I could ask any questions I had at any time, and we had frequent meetings to catch up and resolve any problems I had.”
Ani, do you think you get more out of working at Clay because you have a mentor?
“I think having a mentor is very valuable, especially given my lack of experience it allows me an opportunity to have a dedicated person I can bother :) And also, Yigit's support takes the pressure off and makes me feel more confident in my work.”
Yigit, what did you learn so far from mentoring Ani?
“I find the experience of helping others fulfilling and rewarding. I also had a chance to reinforce my knowledge while answering her questions.”
Ani, can you recommend entering a new company with or without a mentor?
“As a very young professional, I would find having a mentor beneficial as starting a new job is initially intimidating, and the learning curve is steep. In my experience with Clay, having a mentor was valuable, and I don’t think I would have enjoyed working as much as I do without one!”
Thank you, Yigit and Ani, for explaining why companies should consider
offering a mentorship alongside an internship.
Ani, you’re doing great!! 🫶
Are you interested in a full-time job or an internship at a scale-up, where we work hard to build software that’s changing the way we live?
Go to our careers page and send us a message; we are happy to hear from you!
Clay Solutions - A SALTO Group company is the daughter company of SALTO Systems. A lock hardware manufacturer based in Oiartzun, Spain. While Clay builds the cloud-based software that allows users to tap their locks open with their phone, SALTO provides the hardware and the locks that are enabled to communicate with the software. This website functions as a platform to showcase our company culture in our office in Amsterdam, the way we build our software, and why and who the Bricks are.
Feel free to browse around, head over to SALTO to find more about the hardware, or apply if you see a job you think you are just perfect for.