KatysBlog

Since 9 July, we are in the SEED 2008-2009 Mentor Matching Cycle.
That is, the 85 Engineering mentoring program Participants (Mentees)
have created and prioritized their 15-name Mentor Wish Lists and I am
in the process of sequentially contacting
the highest priority potentially available mentor for each of them.
In this first ten days, 50 or 59% have been matched so far.
There are two terms being matched at the same time:

• September 2008 – September 2009 Recent Hire Term
  
  which already has 16 out of 23 matched
• September 2008 – March 2009 Established Staff Term
  
  which already has 34 out of 63 matched

At one level, I am matching interesting and accomplished individuals,
some of whom I have known for many years and others I am just getting
to know. At another level, I am working a mentor matching system.
I have a running tally with notes on it for each SEED mentee:

• mentorname #3 – contacted 17 July
  
  mentorname #1 – no response by 17 July
• mentorname #1 – Confirmed 13 July (#1 on list)
• mentorname #4 – Confirmed 18 July (#4 on list)
  
  mentorname #1 – no response by 17 July
• mentorname #2 – 19 July interested – may take a while to decide
  
  mentorname #1 – declined – works in her org. 14 July
• mentorname #1 – Contacted 7/9, out of the office until 21 July
• mentorname #5 – contacted 15 July
  
  mentorname #4 – declined 15 July
  
  mentorname #1 – declined 14 July
• mentorname #1 – Confirmed 10 July (#1 on list)

The Participant is not kept informed of each step in the match process. They do not know which potential mentor from the “Wish List” is contacted. Potential mentors need to have space and time to consider the possibilities of a mentoring partnership without risk of offending the potential mentee or interfering with future communications with them or their manager.

More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program
is available at
http://research.sun.com/SEED/

On August 03, 2006, I wrote about Sun’s unofficial April Fool’s Day Prank
Museum near the lobby of Menlo Park building 17. This week, my husband
repaired one of the prank artifacts which had become damaged. So, here
are current pictures of the small but historic collection. Plus, some
news stories and links about Sun’s prank history.

Sun Prank Museum Photos

John Repairing 2003 Big Webtone Switch

Poster 2007 Black Box Prank

1990 Scott’s Arrow 1996 Cup

2008 Concrete Hardened Thumper

1996 Coffee Station 2007 Black Box Signs

1993 Sharkstation Marty Hess’ SunPuck

2008 MySQL dolphin prank

2008 Mardi Gras Have You Seen This Ham? Prank

1990 All the Wood Behind 1 Arrow Photo of Scott in His Office

News and Links on Sun Pranks

• 
  Do I Still Have a Job? Friday Mar 28, 2008 entry on Jonathan’s
  Blog
• 
  April 1: When Sun Microsystems has fun
  By Rochelle Garner and Connie Guglielmo Bloomberg News, April 1, 2008,
  International Herald Tribune
• 
  Sun prank takes potshots at CEO proclivities
  April 4, 2007 10:09 AM PDT, Posted by Stephen Shankland,
  c/net News.com NewsBlog
• 
  April Fool’s Pranks At Sun I Have Been Involved With Apr 01, 2007 on
  Dave Edstrom’s Catalyst – Edstrom Photons-Electrons blog
• 
  Sun Microsystems Celebrates 25th Anniversary –
  Sun Pranks From the Past 2005
• 
  EMOTIONS AND STAKES RUN HIGH AT FORMULA SUN ONE GRAND PRIX CHAMPIONSHIP
  SANTA CLARA, CA — March 30, 2001, Sun Press Release

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Since 9 July, we are in the SEED 2008-2009 Mentor Matching Cycle.
That is, the 85 Engineering mentoring program participants have
created their 15-name Mentor Wish Lists and I am in the process of contacting
the highest priority potentially available mentor for each of them.
In this first six days, 39% have been matched so far.
There are two terms being matched at the same time:

• September 2008 – September 2009 Recent Hire Term
  
  which already has 9 out of 23 matched
• September 2008 – March 2009 Established Staff Term
  
  which already has 24 out of 63 matched

It usually takes between one and six contacts to make a match. In time,
this requires six weeks to two months for the entire group.
SEED always matches everyone in the term eventually!

Besides the fun of communicating with some of the most talented and
interesting Engineers
in the world (SEED’s mentor and mentee population), I enjoy seeing who
links up. We track all sorts of patterns: gender, geographic location,
professional area, seniority, etc. Some trends are consistent from term
to term: about 2/3 of the mentor-mentee pairs will work at a distance
(that is, they will be widely separated by geography and time zones), very
few mentors will accept a mentee in their own management chain, more
women mentees will ask for women mentors, etc.

I send out a great deal of email during the mentor matching cycle. However,
I also get responses when I see potential mentors in the cafeteria or at
meetings. Some of their answers are very encouraging for Sun’s Engineering
Community even if they mean disappointment for the particular SEED participant
who has requested that mentor. “Can’t take on another SEED mentee – I am
still spending time with my mentee from last year. It worked out great!”
is a rejection I am happy to get.

More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program is
available at
http://research.sun.com/SEED/