All Tech is Human Mentorship Profile: Mélissa M’Raidi-Kechichian’s Four Key Lessons
All Tech is Human’s Responsible Tech Mentorship Program is a free program designed to facilitate career development and connections among talented students, career changers, and practitioners in order to build out the Responsible Tech movement.
We are grateful to our mentors who dedicate their time to uplift others. Fall 2022 mentor Mélissa M’Raidi-Kechichian shares their experience through four lessons and key takeaways - and explains why you should get involved.
Before applying to become a mentor at All Tech Is Human (ATIH), I wasn’t sure I was “experienced enough”. I had started to transition to tech a year prior and was still figuring out the tech industry one day at a time. But as a first-generation university graduate and immigrant, I knew by experience that finding mentors to guide me had been key to reaching my goals and building the right support system in both my professional and personal life.
In one year, I had already learned plenty of valuable information and skills by reaching out to experts in the tech industry, reading daily about tech at the intersection of regulation and social justice, seeking a professional certificate in AI Policy, and getting my first job in tech.
I concluded that working in tech meant embarking on a never-ending learning journey in an always evolving field, therefore I would never feel “fully ready” to mentor. Additionally, I benefitted myself from the ATIH mentorship program for 6 months as a mentee, and I wanted to give back to the ATIH community – so I applied.
The reality of mentoring at ATIH went beyond my expectations.
I was expecting to share knowledge and tips, and of course to learn, but I learned way more about the field and myself than anticipated. The ATIH team was present for any questions during the mentorship program, and I am forever grateful for their organisation, responsiveness, and kindness. By building the mentorship program, they allow a pool of mentors to empower others joining the responsible tech field and amplify and spread a movement that aims to benefit us all.
Four learning lessons from mentoring at All Tech Is Human
1) There is not a single “ideal” or “perfect” background to work in tech.
The very first thing all my mentees ever told me was the following: if they had a background in Social Science, they believed they didn’t have the “right” background and should learn how to code. Interestingly, if they had a STEM background, they believed they missed the Social Science component and felt pressured to catch up what they were “missing” as well. The reality is we need both STEM and Social Science in responsible tech, and there is no need to be an expert in both fields: that’s why we work in teams composed of diverse backgrounds. It is easy to fall into a perfectionist mindset and try to be an expert in every intersection of tech, but this expectation is unrealistic and doesn’t serve you or your industry. Figuring out how your background intersects with responsible tech and foster your unique expertise is what matters.
2) Self-doubt is part of the process.
Often, experiencing self-doubt or the impostor syndrome might lead one to take it as a proof that they don’t belong to the field. This is wrong. Self-doubt and questioning yourself in responsible tech are very normal and even positive. I find it critical to question your approach and beliefs when it comes to tackling tech issues that are intertwined with many sub-fields laying at the intersection of social, environmental, political issues. Exploring self-doubt instead of trying to stifle it can lead to more creativity and a deeper understanding of a given question.
3) Mentees mostly need encouragement.
I found myself empowering people who already had everything it took to reach their goals, and only lacked a bit of confidence to put themselves out there. You will always get more results by putting your “imperfect” self out there in the industry rather than wait in a corner overthinking about everything you could do better. This is another reminder of why we work in teams: we cannot be an expert in every single aspect of tech, and that’s okay.
4) Gen Z is social justice oriented and politically aware.
Anyone in responsible tech can easily fall into a spiral of despair and frustration: we’re all here to make change happen on very sensitive issues, and change is slow and difficult. Despite being a growing movement that is radically changing the broader tech industry, the harmful impacts of technology are still very ubiquitous and have devastating outcomes on already vulnerable and marginalized communities. Working with gen Z was so encouraging, because this generation is hyper politically aware and though they desire to work in tech, they won’t do it if it means compromising their values. Seeing their narrative about responsible tech grow and their understanding of it deepen over the months on top of their strong ethics towards tech was incredibly encouraging.
About Mélissa M’Raidi-Kechichian
Mélissa currently works in the field of civic tech as a project coordinator in data & technology at Open North. Previously, they worked at the Digital ID and Authentication Council of Canada as a project coordinator and at the Center for AI and Digital Policy as a researcher and team leader. They graduated from the Université du Québec à Montréal in 2020 with a Bachelor’s in Human Sciences and were at first self-taught in data privacy, AI policy, and the ethics of algorithmic recommendations until their passion for technology and AI ethics pushed them to seek an intensive training at the Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), where they earned two professional certificates in AI Policy.
