High up in the 160m Walkie Talkie skyscraper last night, a Channel Community event surveyed a panoramic view both of central London and the power of mentoring.
Founded in 2021, The Channel Community is a Community Interest Company offering free mentoring to anyone in the UK IT channel.
It has since supported close to 100 mentees, in that time hosting 27 events and connecting nearly 1,500 community members.
On the lofty 31st-floor office of Telefonica Tech, comperes Zoe Chatley and Lindsy Betts instructed attendees to form groups and brainstorm what it really means to be a mentor and mentee.
One group highlighted how mentoring can expose both parties to different work cultures, while another dubbed mentor-mentee relationships “a safe space to figure stuff out”.
One younger attendee said her experiences of having a mentor had helped her believe in herself and were critical in her landing her first role in the IT channel.
The event’s most controversial moment came when one group spokesperson lamented the fact that some people are turning to AI to help them with career decisions.
“The feedback you get from a mentor is a very human thing,” they said.
“But we did talk about the issue that a lot of people, particularly younger people, will default today to an LLM – and the answers they get are not necessarily the right answers.”
“Where you start does not dictate where you finish”
The event started with a mad scramble, as attendees were asked to group together based on the first letter of their surnames, birthday months and number of siblings.
Later in the evening, The Channel Community founder Yvonne Matzk introduced the launch of her book, Smashing the Class Ceiling.
It draws together 19 stories from channel pros from low socio-economic backgrounds, a number of whom were present.
All the profits of the book will be given to Turn2us, a charity that provides practical information and support to those facing financial shocks.
“As a charity, we have an affinity to the Social Mobility Foundation to try and raise as much support and awareness as we can for people that come from very disadvantaged backgrounds to get careers in the channel,” Matzk said.
“When we looked at some of the stats, we realised that we’ve actually got an amazing bunch of individuals already in this industry that have gone on to have incredibly successful careers in the channel already.
“So, how can we showcase those stories and help share and inspire other people that where you start does not dictate where you finish?”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
