ADC Mentorship Program

TL;DR: The ADC Mentorship Program for 2024 is now live. Sign up here: https://audio.dev/mentorship

"Follow your heart" – this is a common advice given for the question, "What should I pursue as a career?" It is, of course, easier said than done. While it is difficult to change the situation in someone's favour within an instant, there can definitely be efforts made to at least provide them with a functional ladder.

I remember being the only person in my college who was exploring ways to convert melodies in my head into tangible audio files; or so I thought. I was a Mechanical Engineering student and sound was one of my favorite topics to explore. Being a music buff & a huge Linkin Park fan, my first instinct was to make a band as soon as I start my college. Facebook was new back then and so I started the hunt for fellow musicians from my batch.

Long story short, there were some amazing talents in my batch, but they were too shy to come out in the first semester itself to form a band. That led me to reach out to a few college seniors, one of whom was Vishal Iyer, who in our first meet said, "Why don't you try Fruity Loops? That way you can make your own music in laptop".

This changed everything. Over the years I delved deeper into the audio tech world, and today I'm writing this article. Here's a picture of me with Vishal on our final meet in college:

I was lucky to have found that tipping-point within a week into my college. Many folks don't find a mentor even until later in their lives. I always wonder if I'd decided to pursue music if it wasn't for that one meeting. Since then, I've aimed to be the Vishal Iyer for someone else. And now, for the audio tech industry, so can you.

The Audio Developer Conference (ADC) has created an environment of collaboration over the past decade. Companies have been formed during these events, ideas shared and students turned into industry-legends. A pattern that Bobby Lombardi (Chair, ADC) would mention in his speeches, and I'm paraphrasing here, is as follows:

"Students attend ADC > Next year, they're giving a talk > Soon after, they attend the event representing their own company!"

Seeing the potential of what can happen in such an open environment, the team decided to launch a mentorship program in 2023. It was a huge success. Industry experts & veterans signed up as mentors and a lot of students & audio tech enthusiasts joined as mentees. The program has helped many find the functional ladder, the Vishal Iyer, the whatever-you-want-to-call-it.

The ADC Mentorship Program for 2024 is now live. Sign up here: https://audio.dev/mentorship

"Follow your heart" is not just about self growth. Sometimes, helping others find an opportunity can give a different kind of high, bliss.