When starting your career, you will make mistakes along the way. Everybody has. To help you navigate the early stages of your science, technology, engineering and math careers, we’ve compiled five mistakes Black millennials make in STEM fields, in hopes that you’ll either avoid them or know how to correct any you may have already made.
Not Having a Mentor
Like all industries, having a mentor is imperative, but it’s especially important for Black millennials in STEM fields to feel connected to others in order to move up. “Due to underrepresentation and limited access, several minority and female colleagues told me that feeling isolated at work was a big hindrance to their advancement and development early in their careers,” said Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd, a professor at the University of Georgia and director of its Atmospheric Sciences Program, in an interview with ebony.com.