Katy Dickinson

PreSEED Mentoring Term

Paul's Halloween mask

Jack-o'-lantern lights, glass squash

Mexican Skeleton Lady

I'm delighted to announce that Sun's new worldwide Engineering-wide PreSEED mentoring program is now accepting applications. PreSEED is a mentoring program aimed at helping Engineering staff in the Member of the Technical Staff job family (grade 5 to 9, MTS-2 to MTS-4 equivalents) who have been getting almost all "Sun Standard" annual performance ratings onto a path which may lead them to higher engagement.

PreSEED and SEED?
One way to think of PreSEED is as a preliminary to the successful SEED Engineering mentoring program. The PreSEED and SEED program take a broad definition of Engineering. PreSEED alumni are welcome to apply to the SEED program. Since 2001, the CTO-sponsored SEED program has a proven track record of strong diversity, very high satisfaction, high regard by management, and high retention. SEED participants as a group earn more promotions and higher performance ratings than Sun overall. Individual experiences will vary.

Sponsor? Schedule?
Greg Papadopoulos (Sun CTO and EVP) sponsors the PreSEED and SEED worldwide mentoring program. This PreSEED term will run from January - June 2009. Applications will be accepted starting now (Halloween, 31 October 2008). Application materials should be submitted as soon as possible. The application period will close on 14 November 2008 at 12 p.m. (Noon) California Time, or as soon as 100 complete applications are received.

PreSEED's General Selection Criteria:

1. All participants are in Engineering.
2. Only regular Sun employees may participate.
3. All annual performance ratings in the last 3 years must be a 2 ("Sun Standard") or better.
4. Manager support is required.

What about GSS?
Global Sales and Service (GSS) worldwide Engineering or technical staff at the principal level (US Grade 10 to 12, or non-US equivalent) or above - by 7 November, please consider applying to the new GSS SEED Mentoring Pilot Program sponsored by Peter Ryan, Sun's Executive Vice President, GSS, and Hal Stern, GSS Distinguished Engineer and Senior Vice President, and 12-time SEED mentor. GSS worldwide Engineering or technical staff with jobs equivalent to MTS-2 to MTS-4, in job grades 5 to 9, are welcome to consider PreSEED. For more, see my blog: October 22, 2008.

Become a Mentor?
Mentors must be the global equivalent of U.S. job grade level 10 (Staff Engineer) through Senior VP. PreSEED Mentors are in grades 10 to 12 only (not yet executive level). SEED and PreSEED Mentors can come from any part of Sun, not just Engineering.

More?
More information on the SEED worldwide Engineering mentoring program is available at http://research.sun.com/SEED/

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 04:27PM Oct 31, 2008 by katysblog in Mentoring & Other Business  |