Winter semester 2022 was my first edition as a mentor in the Innovations Project at Lodz University of Technology. I led a group of six students through web development foundations. Collaboration and sharing knowledge matter to me; mentoring is one way to do that.
When I heard about the project I wanted to take part. I had several years of commercial experience and it was time to give something back. Before the first session I was excited and a bit unsure – would I be able to explain things clearly? The first meeting cleared that up. The students had genuine curiosity; I realised mentoring is a shared journey where everyone learns. Their different perspectives and questions made me think harder about things I took for granted.
The programme was broad: not just code but the whole ecosystem – architecture, UI/UX, deployment, CI/CD. We touched on web app programming, architecture, auth, database operations, CI/CD, interface design, project management. On one hand students got knowledge close to real projects, on the other the pace required balancing ambition with time for practice.
Phase one: intro to tech and individual projects. Each student designed an application concept. The process included planning goals and features, design prototypes and implementation. Requirements: homepage, auth module, CRUD, responsiveness, CI/CD. I wanted them to work like professionals from the start – version control, deploys, thinking about the app lifecycle.
Phase two: one larger, more complex project using what they’d learned. Real understanding came when they had to tie everything together. Watching them debug, read docs and work together was instructive.
What I learned: everyone learns differently and at a different pace – I had to adapt how I explained things. Time was limited (one semester, a lot of material); sometimes we had to prioritise and remember the goal was solid foundations and encouragement to keep learning, not “all the knowledge in the world”. The most satisfying moments were when students found solutions on their own – instead of giving answers I tried to ask questions that led there.
Thanks to the six students of that edition for their commitment and patience. They taught me as much as I taught them. Thanks to Lodz University of Technology for the Innovations Project and their trust. Semester 2022 was the start of my mentoring journey; sharing knowledge and watching others grow turned out to be one of the most satisfying parts of my work.
