Youth Mentoring Programme - Great Start to an Engineer’s Journey
It is not unusual to hear fellow engineering students sigh, that they are not certain where they would end up after graduating from their university; or even freshmen are not sure which engineering disciplines would be the best for them. Often times they would wish for someone to be there as their mentors to guide them through the maze of engineering.
Embarking on a mission to help engineering students connect with the industry, the Students Section (Hong Kong) of Younger Members Section launched the Youth Mentoring Programme (YMP) in 2011, in an effort to clear some of the doubts young students have in their mind. Through the combination of technical visits, seminars, and most importantly, face-to-face networking sessions with professional engineers in the field, students were able to learn more about industries of their interest. Since its debut, the programme has served as a bridge between students and the industry, enlightening young engineers’ mind.
With the positive feedback we received from previous years, we are proud to continue the programme in 2017, and it was kicked off by the successful opening ceremony on 14th of January at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, engineering students from different universities had a chance in getting advices and learn from their mentors.
YMP 2017 aims to help engineering students to prepare for their future career as mentees are grouped with two mentors from the same discipline but different fields of work in the industry, and together with four other mentees. Students Section is honoured to have 14 mentors and 28 mentees joining us this year, forming 7 groups to facilitate the mentoring processes.
The opening ceremony began with an introduction to the IET, Students Section (Hong Kong) and YMP by Chairman of Students Section (Hong Kong), Mr Alex Ip, followed by an opening speech by Vice-Chairman of IET Hong Kong, Ir KW Chen. Then one of our honourable mentors, Ir Ekmanson Poon from the 440 productions, gave the participants a sharing on the networking techniques, so as to help mentees improve their networking skills. To put the newly acquired abilities into use, the seminar was followed by a cocktail session where mentees were free to interact with all mentors and other mentees. Not long after, mentees and mentors formed into groups and began their very first networking session in YMP 2017, as mentors shared their experience in the engineering fields, mentees had their doubts clarified and problems resolved.
The success of the opening ceremony provided YMP 2017 with the momentum to carry on bolstering the bonding between mentors and mentees, thus eventually achieving the aim of aiding the preparations of engineering students for their future career.
Nevertheless, this is only the beginning of the journey, our enthusiastic mentors and mentees keep the wheels turning through online contacts and networking sessions. The programme will come to a conclusion on the 10th of June, 2017, in the meantime, mentors and mentees can participate in the seminars and visits that the IET Hong Kong organizes, keep themselves updated with the latest industrial developments. The future of our mentees look brighter than ever!