Why I do it
I mentor a lot. I do it for a few reasons. First, I had a lot of unanswered questions during grad school – ranging from genuinely academic to career-focused. I got a lot of answers to these questions only because of the kindness of various professionals who made time for me. So I like to do it, too, now that I’ve learned a lot about these topics. Second, I do think you need to consult with people who are in specific careers of interest to understand fit and process for gaining entry to that field. Third, I think social scientists are needed everywhere. We help people make the right decisions, and hopefully steer people toward a better world.
What I do
Over the years, I have found that what I mentor on falls into a set of categories:
- Academic feedback on topics related to digital stuff. Basically, as if you would go to a faculty member about a specific topic, I love talking about digital aspects of sociology – research question brainstorming and feedback on projects-in-development. I regularly review journal and book proposals for presses related to these topics and so want to be available as people are developing their chops in this space and forming their ideas.
- Job exploration and fit questions about working in the tech sector. Most academic departments simply don’t have the expertise to advise on careers outside of academia. This is mostly informational, discussing goals and my vantage point on the range of careers in the tech sector.
- Preparing for jobs in the tech sector. This is everything from identifying what kinds of experiences you need under your belt to make yourself competitive; developing a resume; applying; and preparing for the hiring process.
How I mentor
I mentor a lot. Like, a lot. Possibly in the thousands of people I’ve advised in some capacity since finishing my PhD. I’m not alone in this experience – a handful of us tech sociologists wrote a plea to departments to provide more support for students because we simply can’t meet the need.
That said, I try to offer support as much as I can. Reach out to me at matt.rafalow (at) gmail.com to start a convo, thinking through first which of the above support topics you might be looking for. But I assert here that for any reason it is my discretion to offer help or not. This is for many reasons – existing work or mentorship comittments, or simply to balance life/work wellbeing.
Some resources I’ll probably point you to at some point
matt rafalow 