A personal reflection on becoming a Technovation Girls mentor, building Tiny Guard with my team, and what the journey has been teaching me about leadership, growth, and creating space for girls in tech.

Margaret — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 18:28:21 +0000

Margaret

Apr 5

From Student to Mentor: My Journey with Technovation Girls

#womenintech #mentorship #career #community

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5 min read

From Student to Mentor: My Journey with Technovation Girls

Margaret — Sun, 05 Apr 2026 15:14:59 +0000

A reflection on mentorship, girls in tech, and growing through the journey.

At the beginning of this year, I said yes to something I didn’t fully realize would shape me too.

I stepped into a role I hadn’t quite imagined for myself yet: mentor.

Not just someone learning in tech and building projects, but someone trusted to guide a team of young girls through their own innovation journey.

That role came through Technovation Girls, and over the past few months, it has quietly become one of the most meaningful parts of my year.

When I joined, I thought I would mostly be helping the team think through ideas and shape a project.

What I didn’t expect was how much the experience would shape me too.

Somewhere between team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and trying to turn an idea into something real, this journey became about much more than mentorship.

It became about leadership, patience, collaboration, and the kind of impact technology can have when girls are given the space to imagine and create.

How It Started

Before becoming a mentor, I already knew that Technovation Girls was about helping girls build technology solutions for real-world problems.

But being part of the process made me appreciate it on a much deeper level.

Technovation is not just about teaching girls how to code.

It’s about helping them think like problem-solvers, trust their ideas, and start seeing technology as something they can shape — not just use.

The girls are not just learning technical skills.

They’re also learning how to:

identify real problems
think creatively
work through ideas as a team
communicate solutions
trust themselves in spaces where girls are not always encouraged to lead

And I think that kind of experience stays with people.

At the Beginning

When I first got involved in January, everything still felt wide open.

There was excitement, but also uncertainty, which is probably true of most things that end up meaning a lot.

At that stage, it wasn’t about having everything figured out.

It was about creating a good starting point: a space where the girls could think freely, share openly, and feel comfortable enough to explore ideas without worrying about getting everything right immediately.

Because before a team can build anything, they first have to feel safe enough to speak.

At first, some of the girls were a little quiet and still figuring out how they fit into the group.

But over time, that started to change.

The Shift

In the early stages, our sessions were full of brainstorming, idea-sharing, and conversations around problems that felt worth solving.

Different people cared about different things.
Different ideas came up.
Different perspectives shaped the conversations.

And that was part of what made it exciting.

As the sessions continued, something shifted.

The girls became more comfortable speaking up.
The discussions became more natural.
The energy became more collaborative.

And ideas started building on top of each other instead of just sitting separately.

That’s when it really started to feel like something was taking shape.

Not just a project, but a shared sense of purpose and a growing confidence that maybe, just maybe, they really could build something meaningful together.

And honestly, watching that shift happen, watching a group of individuals slowly become a team, has been one of the most rewarding parts of the experience.

📸 A Little Snapshot

Us😊, Somewhere in the Middle of It All.

A small but meaningful moment from our pitch session — one of the milestones that made the journey feel real.

The Idea That Stayed

Somewhere along the way, our conversations started to narrow toward a clear direction.

That’s how our project, TinyGuard, came to life.

At its core, it’s rooted in a very real and relatable concern around child safety, care, and reassurance for parents and caregivers.

We’re still refining the idea as development continues (and I’m intentionally not saying too much just yet 😄). But even at this stage, it already feels meaningful to be building around a problem that matters.

And I think that’s one of the most honest parts of innovation:

Ideas rarely arrive fully formed.

They grow through:

conversations
trial and error
questions
revisions
feedback
and a lot of learning in between

A Small Big Moment

One of our biggest recent milestones was completing our pitch video last week.

And that moment felt significant.

Not just because it’s an important part of the Technovation journey, but because it made me stop and realize how far we’ve already come from those early brainstorming sessions.

A pitch video asks for more than just having an idea.

It asks you to:

understand the problem
believe in your solution
explain it clearly
and present it with confidence

And watching the team step into that challenge reminded me that Technovation is building much more than technical ability.

It’s also building voice.

It’s helping girls learn how to stand behind their ideas, speak about them clearly, and trust that what they’re building deserves to be heard.

Somewhere along the way, I also realized how naturally this experience connected with this year’s International Women’s Day theme, “Give to Gain.”

And honestly, that felt fitting.

Because mentorship really does work like that.

You go into it thinking you’re there to guide and support others. Then you realize you’re growing too.

The Part I Didn’t See Coming

I joined this experience expecting to guide.

But in many ways, I’ve also been learning.

Mentorship has taught me that leadership doesn’t always look the way we imagine it.

Sometimes it’s not about having the best answer in the room.
Sometimes it’s about asking better questions.
Sometimes it’s about creating enough space for someone else to think out loud.

And sometimes, it’s simply about being patient while confidence catches up with potential.

As someone still growing in my own tech journey, being in this role has made me think differently about what it means to contribute in this space.

Not everything meaningful has to come from building the most advanced thing yourself.

Sometimes impact also comes from helping someone else believe they can build.

Still Becoming

We’re not at the end yet.

There’s still more ahead of us.

Development is still in progress.
There’s still refining to do.
And there’s still a lot we’re learning as we move closer to the April submission deadline.

So this doesn’t feel like a conclusion.

It feels more like a checkpoint.

A moment to appreciate how far we’ve already come while still being excited about where the journey is heading next.

Because if the past few months have taught me anything, it’s this:

Growth doesn’t always happen in loud, dramatic moments.

Sometimes it happens quietly: through consistency, teamwork, small wins, courage, and simply continuing to show up.

What I’m Taking With Me

If someone had told me at the beginning of the year that one of the most meaningful parts of my journey in tech would come through mentoring, I probably wouldn’t have fully understood it yet.

But now, I do.

Technovation Girls has reminded me that technology is not only about systems, code, or products.

It’s also about people.
It’s about possibility.
It’s about creating space for ideas that matter.
And sometimes, it’s about helping the next generation realize they belong here too.

And maybe that’s the part I’ll carry with me the longest:

Sometimes, the most meaningful growth in tech doesn’t just come from what you build — but from who you help believe they can build too.

DEV Community: Margaret

A personal reflection on becoming a Technovation Girls mentor, building Tiny Guard with my team, and what the journey has been teaching me about leadership, growth, and creating space for girls in tech.

From Student to Mentor: My Journey with Technovation Girls

From Student to Mentor: My Journey with Technovation Girls

How It Started

At the Beginning

The Shift

📸 A Little Snapshot

The Idea That Stayed

A Small Big Moment

The Part I Didn’t See Coming

Still Becoming

What I’m Taking With Me