Category Archives: Mentoring & Other Business

We started the mentor matching cycle on 11 March for the new
SEED worldwide Engineering
Established Staff term. Already, eight executives and senior Engineers
have accepted match requests. Two pairs came into the program with
prior understandings that they would work together. 39 participants are
still in the process of being matched with mentors. All participants
will be matched, most within the next three weeks.

Metrics

The eight newly matched mentors include three Distinguished Engineer/Directors, one
Distinguished Engineer/Vice President, one Fellow/Vice President, one Vice President,
one Principal Engineer/Director and a Senior Staff Engineer. The geographical
pairings so far include:

• Itasca, IL USA with Burlington, MA USA
• Menlo Park, CA USA with Houston, TX USA
• Menlo Park, CA USA with Santa Clara, CA USA two pairs
• Montbonnot Saint Martin, France with Prague, Czech Republic
• Santa Clara, CA USA with Burlington, MA USA
• Seattle, WA USA with Santa Clara, CA USA
• Somerset, NJ USA with Universal City, CA USA

Next Terms

SEED runs seven terms a year. The next
terms will be for PreSEED and GSS SEED. Applications for PreSEED and GSS SEED
will be accepted starting at the end of March 2009 – the terms will run June-December 2009.
Those terms will be followed by an Established Staff term plus the year-long term
for Recent Hires (applications in June, terms to start in September 2009).

Welcome and Congratulations to the 106 New Mentoring Pairs
of the Global Sales and Service SEED
and PreSEED (January – June 2009) Worldwide Sun Engineering Mentoring Terms:
we are honored and delighted to include them!

Because of ten* replacement mentor matches, these terms took longer
than usual to complete the mentor matching cycle. Two mentees are
still being rematched but all participants been matched at least once.
These terms had a 112 day matching cycle (3 December – 5 March 2009).
74% were matched for the first time in the first 3 weeks.

* 7 from these two terms and 3 from the 2008-2009 Recent Hire term

Additional Metrics

• Executive Mentors
  
  GSS Term: 76% executive mentors (Vice Presidents, Directors, Principal Engineers, Distinguished Engineers, etc.)
  
  (PreSEED allows only principal-level mentors, so no executives)
• Local vs. Distant
  
  GSS Term: 2 mentoring partners working locally (4%),
  52 working at a distance – in another state or country (96%)
  
  PreSEED Term: 16 mentoring partners working locally (30%),
  38 working at a distance – in another state or country (70%)
• Meeting Mentee Request Priorities
  
  74% of mentees were matched with one of their
  top four mentor requests (80 count)
  
  63 mentees were matched with their
  1st or 2nd priority mentor (58%)
  
  17 mentees were matched with their
  3rd or 4th priority mentor (16%)
  
  28 mentees were matched with a mentor lower than 4th in
  priority (26%) – this includes 7 rematched mentees

Next Terms

SEED runs seven terms a year.
The program is currently starting the mentor
matching cycle for a new Established Staff term. The next terms after that
will again be for PreSEED and GSS SEED. Applications for PreSEED and GSS SEED
will be accepted starting in early April; the PreSEED and GSS SEED terms
will run June-December 2009.

On 26 February, the SEED
Selection Committee selected the 47 new mentoring participants in the worldwide
Sun Engineering Enrichment and Development (SEED) program for the 2009
Established Staff term. This term will run from April-October 2009. On behalf of CTO

Greg Papadopoulos, warm congratulations to the new participants and thanks
to the managers who supported their applications! Thanks also to the SEED
team who supported the selection process: Tanya Jankot, Matt Artz,
Sy Dimitroff, and Helen Gracon.

New SEED program participants have been sent
more information about next steps (Mentor Wish Lists, SEED Web Pages, how to find
out about and join program activities). All Mentor Wish Lists are due 10 March 2009.

We very much appreciate the time and trouble that all 95 applicants,
their managers, and the recommenders put into their SEED materials. It
takes a great deal of work to apply and we thank you. We received more
applications than the program can accommodate. We picked 49% of the applicants,
for a total of 47 new participants. This is a very
accomplished group: 22 of the applicants had either two or three Superior
annual performance ratings in the last three years. The selection process
was very difficult. Participants were chosen based on professional performance
and manager’s recommendation, with consideration given to the other factors
included in their applications, how well they fit in with SEED’s Preferred Accomplishment Areas, and the geographic, demographic, and professional
breadth of the term members.

SEED Preferred Accomplishment Areas

Program applicants are expected to excel in many but not all of these 11 areas:

Metrics

About the 47 New SEED Participants:

• Location of Participants
• 4 China, 9%
• 4 Czech Republic, 9%
• 1 France, 2%
• 1 Germany, 2%
• 2 India, 4%
• 1 Ireland, 2%
• 1 Israel, 2%
• 1 Italy, 2%
• 1 Norway, 2%
• 2 Russia, 4%
• 1 Singapore, 24%
• 28 USA, 60% (5 Eastern USA, 23 Western USA)
• Division of Participants
• 1 CTO / Sun Labs, 2%
• 10 Global Sales and Service (GSS), 21%
• 8 Microelectronics, 17%
• 18 Software (all groups), 38%
• 1 Storage Group, 2%
• 9 Systems, 19%
• Gender of Participants
• 9 Female, 19%
• 38 Male, 81%
• 27 Principal-level (very senior) job grades or above, 57%
• 5 People/Program Managers, 11%
• 12 Previously Applied to SEED, 26%
• 3 on SEED’s Potential Mentor List

Next Terms

SEED runs seven terms a year. After this Established Staff, the next terms
will be for PreSEED and GSS SEED. Applications for PreSEED and GSS SEED
will be accepted starting in early April; the PreSEED and GSS SEED terms
will run June-December 2009.

Applications have now closed for the new
SEED
worldwide Engineering mentoring term for Established Staff (to run April-October
2009). 95 people applied and 70 of those applications were completed and
are eligible for consideration. We will accept 40 to 50 people in this term.
Tanya Jankot and I are now discussing details and checking information.
Next step is information validation by Human Resources. SEED’s selection committee
meets at the end of this week, followed by an email announcement to all applicants
and their managers.

SEED runs seven terms a year. After this Established Staff, the next terms
will be for PreSEED and GSS SEED. Applications for PreSEED and GSS SEED
will be accepted starting in early April; the PreSEED and GSS SEED terms
will run June-December 2009.

We are in the application cycle for the new
SEED
worldwide Engineering mentoring term for Established Staff (to run April-October
2009). The application forms close after today, 23 February 2009.
So far, 91 people have applied – 54 of those applications are complete.
We will accept 40 to 50 people in this term.

Some Metrics

• Applications have been
  submitted from Sun staff working in Australia, Canada, China, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Singapore, Switzerland, and the USA (Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas).
• Applicants who have volunteered their countries of origin are from:
  Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, South Korea, Taiwan, Trinidad & Tobago, UK, USA, and Vietnam
• Applications have come in from Sun Labs, Microelectronics, Sales, Services, Software, Storage, Systems and Worldwide Operations.

SEED’s General Selection Criteria:

1. All Participants are in Engineering.
2. Only regular Sun employees may participate.
3. Superior annual performance ratings are preferred.
4. Manager support is required.

Next Terms

SEED runs seven terms a year. After this Established Staff, the next terms
will be for PreSEED and GSS SEED. Applications for PreSEED and GSS SEED
will be accepted starting in early April; the PreSEED and GSS SEED terms
will run June-December 2009.

We are in the application cycle for the new
SEED
worldwide Engineering mentoring term for Established Staff (to run April-October
2009). The application forms will be open through Monday, 23 February 2009.
(That is: everything is due before midnight California time, 23 February.)
So far, 51 people have applied but only 5 of those applications are complete.

Some Metrics

• Applications have been
  submitted from Sun staff working in Australia, China, Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Russia, Switzerland, and the USA (Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas).
• Applicants who have volunteered their countries of origin are from:
  Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Czech Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Romania, Russia, Slovak Republic, Taiwan, Trinidad & Tobago, USA, and Vietnam
• Applications have come in from Sun Labs, Microelectronics, Sales, Services, Software, Storage, and Systems.

One of the fun aspects of a SEED application period is seeing where everyone is from and where they work now – like our own little world tour!

Question Call

Tanya Jankot and I will
offer the last of two phone-in presentation and question sessions tonight:

• February 19, 8 p.m. or 20:00 (USA West Coast, Pacific Standard Time, PST)

SEED’s General Selection Criteria:

1. All Participants are in Engineering.
2. Only regular Sun employees may participate.
3. Superior annual performance ratings are preferred.
4. Manager support is required.

Next Terms

SEED runs seven terms a year. After this Established Staff, the next terms
will be for PreSEED and GSS SEED. Applications for PreSEED and GSS SEED
will be accepted starting in early April; the terms will run June-December 2009.

Two days ago, executive sponsor

Greg Papadopoulos (Sun’s Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice
President of Research and Development) announced the opening of the application
period for the new SEED
worldwide Engineering mentoring term for Established Staff. The application
forms will be open through 23 February 2009.

There have already been 12 applications submitted (from Australia, China,
Czech Republic, Ireland, New Zealand, and the USA). Tanya Jankot and I will
offer two phone-in presentation and question sessions:

• Call 1: February 13, 8 a.m. or 08:00 (USA West Coast, Pacific Standard Time, PST)
• Call 2: February 19, 8 p.m. or 20:00 (USA West Coast, Pacific Standard Time, PST)

SEED’s General Selection Criteria:

1. All Participants are in Engineering.
2. Only regular Sun employees may participate.
3. Superior annual performance ratings are preferred.
4. Manager support is required.

SEED runs seven terms a year. After this Established Staff, the next terms
will be for PreSEED and GSS SEED. Applications for PreSEED and GSS SEED
will be accepted starting in early April; the term will run June-December 2009.