Mentors wanted

WANTED:

talented

IT mentors

10+ years of experience in U.S. IT, a wonderful family, a good job, a great salary, a magnificent home.

But what's next?

Is it possible to offer anything to someone who has successfully risen in Maslow's hierarchy from the level of physiological and safety needs to that of love and belonging and esteem?

We can

  • Lilia Urmazova
    School Founder, Chief QA Expert / QA Manager at Quantori (US)

    21 years of QA experience.

    Has worked at Star Software, Exigen Services, Grid Dynamics, Rostelecom. Taught at Luxoft Training.

    I like QA because it lets me participate in the entire software development process from A to Z and also interact with a lot of people all at once.

    I'm a good instructor because I can explain complex things well using simple examples, pictures, diagrams and tables.

  • Sergey Gerasimov
    School Co-Founder, QA Expert regarding Agile and SQL / Head of the QA Department at Quadcode (Cyprus)

    12 years of QA experience.

    Has worked at Positive Technologies, IQCard, Performance Lab, and MVideo.

    I like QA because it lets me influence development processes and make people's lives better.

    I'm a good instructor because I'm ready to lead students from zero knowledge to deep and detailed understanding and the ability to solve real problems.

  • Nikolay Mishin
    Linux and Networking Expert / DevOps Lead at Grid Dynamics (US)

    10 years of IT experience.

    Has worked at Mirantis and Semonix.

    I like QA because my work lets me learn new technologies and keep up with the times.

    I'm a good instructor because I explain very well concepts that I think nobody, let alone testers, can live without. My subject is the most important. 🙂

  • Fedor Kulishov
    Linux and Security Expert / Lead Security Expert at Acronis (Switzerland)

    17 years of IT experience.

    Has worked at several startups, Scientific Research Institute Voskhod, and Positive Technologies.

    I like IT, and especially security, because you always have to stay in shape. There is often something interesting to investigate. And you're surrounded by excellent specialists and enthusiasts.

    I'm a good instructor because I like to see excitement in my students' eyes, to notice their progress, and to receive their goodwill in return.

  • Nikolay Gladnev
    QA Expert regarding API and WebUI Testing / Load Testing Team Lead at Arrival (UK)

    11 years of QA experience.

    Has worked at Aplana, Nexign, and Human Engineering.

    I like QA because my work requires me to understand complex technical things.

    I'm a good instructor because I really like tricky questions from students.

  • Evgeny Lozovan
    Java Automation Expert / Lead Test Automation Engineer at Grid Dynamics (US)

    16 years of QA experience.

    Has worked at MuranoSoft and Global Logic.

    I like QA because it lets me satisfy my craving for research and science.

    I'm a good instructor because my laziness causes me to teach others in a way that requires as little work as possible for myself. 🙂

We are a group of mentors with 10-20+ years of IT experience, who are obsessed with quality and creating the best generation of IT professionals. Some know us as

QA School by Mentorpiece.

At Mentorpiece (a portmanteau of 'mentor' and 'masterpiece'), we're confident that mechanically transferring skills to hundreds of people at a time won't give students what they need most to achieve a truly impressive IT career. Such an approach doesn't provide understanding.

That's why our seasoned QA mentors not only share skills and knowledge, but also convey an understanding of the profession's nuances, deep experience and best practices.

Consequently, the IT market gains conscientious professionals rather than mere employees.
If you are concerned that
  • The quality of IT products is falling
    because the customer's short-term goals are usually detrimental to long-term goals
  • A lot of random people are entering IT
    because the constant high demand for IT specialists pushes up salaries and attracts people who are just in the field for the money
  • You use no more than 20% of your knowledge
    since that is how much a typical project requires
  • And current tasks are not so intellectually stimulating any more
    unlike the good old days when you were just starting your career
If you are inspired by
  • New challenges
    for example, transforming a limitless body of knowledge on a specific topic into something that is both compact and complete
  • The ability simply explain that which is complex
    as in the joke "Even I came to understand as I was explaining it to you"
  • The chance to do something really helpful, and not just earn a million
    for yourself or for "the man"
  • And it's good to do this with really cool people
    We aren't praising ourselves here — this is what our students say about us
If you are interested in
  • The concept of career-long education
    both for yourself and for your students
  • Boosting your soft skills
    even at the top level
  • Professional, social, or even state recognition
    we're not exaggerating — for example, some countries consider teaching and mentoring as a serious argument for a "talent visa"
  • And, finally, you want to pump up your karma
    just in case

...Then know that Mentorpiece can give you everything above.

What's the offer?
We are offering a paid online mentoring job to IT professionals with 10+ years of experience who want to find self-realization through very interesting and useful work without giving up their main employment.

In general, we specialize in quality assurance (QA). But we have interesting work not only for QA professionals, but also for experienced general IT experts. Someone who is knowledgeable in one or more of the following:
• SDLC
• Test design and requirements
• Linux/Networks
• Databases
• Mobile testing
• Web testing
• Backend testing
• Automation
• Programming (Java, Python)
How are we different from other QA courses?

We aim to be the Harvard

of online schools.

  • 1
    Only QA mentors with 10+ years of IT experience
    Our team includes carefully selected mentors who are current technical managers at the largest global IT companies, who have 10 to 20+ years of experience, who are involved in hiring testers at their companies, and who know the QA market's latest requirements.
  • 2
    Only live classes with live feedback in groups of 15 people
    Our mentors do more than give relevant theory.
    They adapt the course for each specific group, lead practical exercises, answer questions, guide students and conduct exams.
    For this to work, our student groups are limited to 15 people, not the groups of 30-40 or even 300 students that some platforms organize.
  • 3
    Only by proving students in the real world
    A world-class QA expert's training cannot be limited to studying theory and completing classwork.
    That's why many of our courses include internships involving work on real projects. As a result, after completing our QA training, 85% of our graduates find employment.

In general, we're in favor of a professional,

rather than a commercial approach to education:

COMMERCIAL APPROACH
✓ the school's commercial interests come ahead of the student's interests
✓ students are enrolled only after successful payment
✓ the school's KPIs are the number of students and ROI
PROFESSIONAL APPROACH
✓ the student's interests come ahead of the school's commercial interests
✓ students are enrolled only after a successful interview
✓ the school's KPI is the number of successful careers of graduates


What exactly will I do?
You will prepare lectures on a specific topic, and then deliver them yourself, live and online, in groups of no more than 15 students. You will converse with students during lectures, answering their questions. And afterward you will check their homework.

If you haven't done any of this before, don't worry — we'll help you do it well and effectively. The important thing is that you have superb IT experience.

As a mentor, you won't just convey this knowledge. You'll also provide an understanding of why this knowledge is necessary. You will train professional engineers, not "button pushers". There will be no methodology experts or bosses above you. Your coworkers will be guys and gals with vast experience. In short, you can fully self-actualize in a company with good people.

You can see what the training plans are all about by looking at the website. That said, we are constantly launching new plans that may not yet be published.
The work is completely remote: you can be anywhere in the world. The important thing is that you can hold classes at specific hours.

None of this is easy. And you're fully responsible for what you do.
But nothing is more motivating than when a student from your first group lands her first IT job and then two years later grows into a lead.
How much time is required?
On average, a teacher gives 3 lectures per month. Not counting the one-time preparation time, the commitment amounts to 2 hours to give each lecture, 2 hours to check homework, and 2 hours to answer students' questions.
In all, 18 hours per month or 4 hours per week.
How can you know whether your knowledge is what we're looking for?
To be a good match, there are four main things you need:
✓ 10+ years of experience as an IT specialist
✓ Good knowledge of English (B2+ and above)
✓ Ability to generate (interesting) ideas
✓ Soft skills (or a great desire to develop them)

We have an easier process: send us your standard "technical" resume and answer three soft-skill questions.

And then we'll have a conversation with you.

How would you act in each of the following situations?

  1. During class, one of the outstanding students asks a question to which you do not know the answer.
  2. After your second lesson with a group, a student contacts you to say: "I don't understand anything at all. I don't even know how to formulate a question, so the classes are a waste. I can't do my homework either."
  3. Now well into the course, the same student is asking extremely odd questions (the answers to which seem obvious and were clearly explained earlier). This is slowing down the entire group.

We're not interested in "correct" answers, but in your ability to think.


Reach out to us through any messaging platform. Shoot us a message: "My name is MY_NAME, and I want to be a mentor. Here are my answers to the 3 questions as well as my resume:"

We're waiting for you!
Deliberate learning