IBIT Mentoring Program
I participated in the IBIT Mentoring Program during the Spring 2022 semester. My mentor was Christopher Kearns, who is the Division Vice President of IT at Corning Inc. Chris’ current role at Corning deals with managing several IT teams to advance the workforce experience. His past roles were with Lockheed Martin, Vanguard, and NBCUniversal.
Over the semester, I met with Chris to mainly discuss current trends in technology and how to succeed in the field of cyber. We talked about working with others and working individually, the differences in working for large corporations versus small firms, and little things you can do to enhance yourself as an individual. There were conversations of how the pandemic has changed the workplace environment, but also how some operations are returning to “normal”. Chris was able to provide lots of advice based on his experience in different fields and with several companies.
Having a mentor who works in the field that I am interested in going into has been very helpful. Prior to joining this program, I had never spoken to an individual who worked in cybersecurity. The IBIT mentorship program allowed me to meet with someone who not only had first hand experience in the field, but is a senior executive. These executives were once in our places and know what it is like to be a young professional. As for the future, my mentor and I plan on keeping in touch to talk about where we might end up next or about the fascinating changes that will occur in the tech industry.