In keeping with our own advice to trim the fat, MentorNet has moved to new headquarters. Please note our new address: 840 W California Ave, Suite 200, Sunnyvale CA 94086

Last night I saw Doug Leone, senior partner at Sequoia Capital and the VC largely responsible for their good bets on Yahoo, Google, and YouTube, address a crowd of MIT students and alums. Among his many great and startling comments was, “I love a good recession.”

It got me thinking. Going for top-paying engineering and science majors (see story at right) is surely a good move. But this recession has other lessons beyond hard work and good grades and rational career choices that we should carry with us long after it’s over. If the sparks of recovery grow into a real flame, then especially for those of you who were smart, stayed in school, and weathered the storm, it will be easy to miss some of the valuable, if difficult, takeaways from these times.

1. Define what’s most essential and focus on it: Here at MentorNet we used the occasion to look really hard at the fundamental values of our mission: diversify the engineering and science workforce, help those who need help, build bridges between wisdom and talent, give people a place to express their highest motives of aspiration and generosity.

2. Trim the fat, save your cash: Americans, typically miserable at it, are now saving their money more than ever. Apply this wisdom of the crowd to your careers and businesses. MentorNet reduced staff, moved all our operations to the Cloud, and found new headquarters at half the rent.

3. To meet your material goals, embrace spiritual (or at least non-material) ones. Searching for the meaning of your connection to the world and others magically reduces the number of things you think you need. I promise.

4. Now’s the best time to take risks, especially that biggest risk of all: bet on yourself. When you’re besieged by difficulties, you’re competing against many more qualified desperados like yourself, and you’re scraping along the bottom, remember (a) you have a shorter distance to fall, and (b) nothing will distinguish you more quickly than passion.

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MentorNet Mentioned in New Book

Cases on Online Tutoring, Mentoring, and Educational Services: Practices and Applications by Gary A. Berg, PhD, is now available from IGI Global. Click here to order a copy.

A recent study shows what most of you already know and have been working so hard to achieve: the college degrees that lead to the best paying jobs are in the engineering and science fields. This chart from Payscale.com shows the top ten degrees by starting and mid-career salaries.

The White House has released President Obama's proclamation stating that January is officially National Mentoring Month in America. Read More

Engineering Flexibility
By Pamela A. Eibeck

Two years ago, my daughter, Katherine, and I appeared on the cover of ASEE Prism magazine. A feature story by the American Society for Engineering Education on two generations of women engineers, perhaps? Not quite. Read More