SCRF Interviews | Culture and Incentivization - Ellie Rennie and Zach Anderson (Ep. 3)

My perspective as a relatively young undergraduate student majoring in computer science is that it is very important for me to develop a circle of mentors or reciprocal individuals who hold me accountable for my personal and technical growth. There are many things that I cannot learn in the classroom nor in professional on-the-job settings. This is especially true when I’m alone in a foreign country being constantly hammered with foreign world views and customs.

I have joined many such meetups and communities and I have made a reputation of myself being able to access these “experts” from different walks of life to pave my own career path forward. Asking for help with data structures and algorithms homework, asking for design architecture or best practices for an application, asking for help with my calculus course etc… to something as simple as to how to navigate a banking system in a foreign company are some of the little things that enabled me to achieve more than I could have ever imagined. As far as compensation goes, I have always somehow managed to extract very genuine and interesting value that has opened a lot of doors for me in the long run. A lot of these times, these “experts” know quite well that I am there to exploit their wisdom but nevertheless succumb to my persistence and eagerness to reap their knowledge. For me, monetary compensation can only be good until the point where I realize I am no longer growing or am seeing my future monetary compensation growing.

2 Likes