Course Report is a coding bootcamp directory featuring thousands of alumni reviews. With Course Report, coding schools enjoy an unbiased platform from which students can compare, research and review their options (Course Report rankings are some of the most trusted around).

And in addition to relevant data and resources, Course Report also helps users keep up with important coding school news. That’s why our partners at Course Report recently did an interview with one of our mentors, Rob Slifka, to uncover what the mentor-to-student relationships at Hackbright are like.

Rob Slifka, VP of Engineering at Sharethrough, and mentor, and guest lecturer at Hackbright Academy.

Rob Slifka is the VP of Engineering at Sharethrough and has been a mentor at Hackbright Academy for 3+ years. He became a mentor after having hired a Hackbright graduate and becoming inspired by Hackbright’s mission: to educate and motivate women to #ChangeTheRatio in the tech industry.

Course Report’s interview with Rob gives you a look into what he does for Hackbright students as a mentor and guest lecturer. Click here to see Course Report’s article.

Below we’ve highlighted a few of our favorite Rob Slifka quotes from the article. Take a look!

Course Report: I saw on your LinkedIn that you have a Computer Science degree. With your traditional background, were you skeptical about hiring from coding bootcamps? 

“There are plenty of self-taught engineers out there; certainly bootcamps providing streamlined, structured experience could teach someone how to write code.”

Some people might hold back from getting their programming education at coding bootcamp because they are afraid that hiring managers won’t accept the code training. Times are different. More and more companies are hiring code bootcamp grads. In fact, Rob has hired from Hackbright before and would again if given the opportunity to hire a junior developer at Sharethrough.

Course Report: What made you want to mentor women at Hackbright Academy?

“The engineer we hired from Hackbright was terrific and the world could use many more like her. Every engineering team I’ve worked with has struggled both with diversity and scaling. Mentoring at Hackbright is a way to directly affect each of these and you get a chance to work with great, motivated people.”

At Hackbright, we have a lot of pride for our students. Each of them are hard working individuals that are capable, courageous and motivated. That’s why most of them find jobs quickly after going through the course.

We’ve had many accounts, just like Rob’s, of hiring managers loving our alumnae. So much so they want to get involved in our mentee-to-mentor program. So many have become involved that each student has individual access to two mentors.

Course Report: What do you think of Hackbright Academy’s curriculum? Do you feel that they are teaching students the right skills to break into the software industry? 

“Every student whom I’ve worked with has ultimately gotten jobs in tech, which seems like an indication their curriculum is relevant.”

Because a coding bootcamp is the “gateway” to helping students get into tech jobs in the most affordable and quickest way, a good curriculum is key to our success. And whether you’re interested in website development, building apps, going into software engineering, or embracing any of the hundreds of other tech-focused careers that are popping up all over the world, Hackbright will give you the skills you need to help make it happen.

Course Report: How do you define a “successful” mentorship? 

“For me, there are two things that define success. One is getting students to own the interview process and, two is is having students leave with a confident story about themselves and their background and technical work.”

A mentor’s job is to help our students successfully get through our program so that they can find a tech job after bootcamp. Skill and confidence is what each of our students are aiming for, and our mentors help them learn and develop into hard-working engineers.

Read Course Report’s full interview with Rob here.

Interested in becoming a mentor? 

Click here to check out Hackbright Academy’s mentorship program.