Discover Your Mentor’s Role
Throughout your training program, you’ll receive personal support from a professional in the field: your mentor. You and your mentor will have a weekly one-on-one meeting via videoconference.
Your mentor isn’t a teacher. They will not deliver lessons or grade papers. Rather, they are an expert in the field, who has decided to devote their energy to mentorship out of a desire to share their knowledge with students and help them navigate new concepts. They do this work in addition to continuing their career.
This is an excellent opportunity. You’ll benefit from the experience and feedback of a qualified professional, you’ll be able to ask them questions, and you’ll get a better understanding of how the skills you’re working to develop can be applied in the working world. Let’s take a closer look at how your mentor can support you.
✅ What your mentor will do | ❌ What your mentor won’t do |
Give you advice about work methods when you’re stuck on a project task. | Give you all the answers. Your mentor will sometimes leave you to find the answers for yourself (with their support). This is just part of the learning process. |
Point you in the right direction when you’re not sure what to do next. | Give you a step-by-step list of what to do. It’s up to you to determine that, but you can count on your mentor to tell you whether the goals you’ve set yourself are realistic. |
Give you feedback on your work when you’re wondering if you’re close to completing a task. | Do your work for you. Your mentor won’t take over your deliverables, but they can tell you if you’re on the right track. |
Explain a concept or method that seems unclear to you. | Give you lessons. Mentors aren’t teachers, but they can give you additional explanations when needed. |
Boost your confidence when you’re feeling discouraged. | Help you overcome personal or psychological issues that go beyond their skill set. If you need help, contact our team via the contact form, and we’ll get back to you ASAP. |
Help you visualize your future by showing you how things work in the professional world. | Help you find a job. That’s what your coach is for—you’ll meet them when you’re ready to start your job search. |
Of course, your mentor won’t always have all the answers—that’s normal! They might have more experience with certain subjects than others, and just like you, they’re a professional with a thirst for learning new things throughout their career. On the other hand, their practical experience has given them a real ability to adapt. They know how to help you explore and solve problems.
Whether it’s based on their experience of being a student or a mentor, Joy, Mike, Alexandra and Virginia all have opinions on the mentor role. Watch this video to learn more!
Meet Your Mentor in the Discovery Session
Above all, mentorship is about building a relationship. Throughout your path, you and your mentor will work as a team, learning from each other as you go. A positive mentor-student relationship is founded on trust and a willingness to share and grow together.
This relationship begins from your first meeting: a session we call the discovery session. You’ll be invited to your discovery session via email. Your mentor will quickly get in touch with you to set up this first meeting together.
The discovery session has several objectives:
Taking a tour of the platform.
Getting to know each other.
Explaining your motivations—what made you want to start this training program.
Visualizing the steps in your path together.
Establishing a framework for your collaboration, your respective expectations, and the tools you’ll use.
To ensure you’re well prepared for the discovery session, you can start filling out your start-of-training worksheet. If you go into the session having already set a clear professional goal and reviewed the projects in your path, you should have plenty of ground to start the discussion with your mentor! You can even write down any questions you have ahead of time so you can get the most out of this first meeting.
Set Up Your Collaboration Tools
The discovery session is the moment to establish the framework for your mentor-student relationship. You’ll explore the following questions:
What do you expect from each other as mentor and student?
When will your weekly meeting be (day and time)?
Will you be communicating with each other between mentoring sessions? And if so, how?
How will you deliver your work to your mentor?
Below are a few recommendations for tools and best practices.
| Best practices | Recommended tools |
For videoconferencing sessions | Use the OpenClassrooms videoconferencing tool. Make sure to check that your camera, microphone, and screen sharing functions are working. | The OpenClassrooms website |
For communicating between sessions | Ask your mentor if you can contact them between sessions. If so, set some boundaries together. When and how often will you communicate? |
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For submitting your deliverables | Use a collaborative tool and create a shared folder for each project. That way, your mentor can access your work directly and add comments if they wish. |
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For managing and tracking your projects | Use a digital project management tool so you can have a view of all the tasks you need to complete and track your overall progress in projects. You can share access with your mentor so they can see your progress too. |
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Over to You!
Once you’ve met your mentor, go back to your start-of-training worksheet and note down how you’ll work together and what tools you’ll use.
Let’s Recap!
Your mentor isn’t a teacher, but an expert in the field who continues to work professionally while also providing personalized support to students. They’ll guide you through all your projects, help you progress, clarify key concepts, and show you how your training connects to the professional world.
The discovery session is the first meeting with your mentor, where you’ll get to know each other and start to lay the groundwork for a successful collaboration.
You’ll learn what each other’s expectations are, determine your weekly meeting schedule, and decide what tools you’ll use to work together.
We recommend using collaboration tools, such as shared folders and project management tools.
Your mentor isn’t the only person you’ll be meeting on your path. You’ll also be joining the vast community of OpenClassrooms students. That’s what we’ll be exploring together in the next chapter!
