Daring Leaps is a community created with the desire to help people grow their careers beyond the limits of their current career paths.

As someone who has switched roles multiple times, I know how difficult it can be to make the transition smoothly. Despite having access to great industry contacts and to the best of academic, online, and internal company resources, I still experienced a lot of friction during the process. I was ultimately successful, but there is no doubt that having a mentor to hold my hand through the process would have made a world of difference.

You might think that the people around me were more than enough; I've worked at some incredibly large and well-known tech companies - Amazon, Microsoft, and Facebook - with truly wonderful people who, while not serving in the role of mentors, were able to point me in the right directions. It did not and could not take the place of a dedicated guide invested in my career success.

I also did attempt to seek out mentorship, and the process of doing so was an endeavour unto itself. There were no clear systems by which to find mentors who either had the experiences I was looking for, or understood the changes I was trying to make. Additionally, many of those relationships would peter out after a meeting or two, and the process of having to find someone through word of mouth would have to start over.

Not all people are afforded the luxuries of having access to friends in their desired roles, and job-finding and career-switching resources are often targeted at those who are younger. Despite being in technology, a field that is well known for people's constant transitioning of roles, I myself was questioned on my desire to change job families laterally in the way that I did.

My hope is that Daring Leaps can become a place where can feel comfortable reaching out to others and find ways to seek mentorship or expand their horizons. The goal of this service is not to replace services like LinkedIn; instead of connecting with people you know, you want to connect with people you don't know so that they can share their professional and lived experiences with you.

I have put a lot of work heart into the building of this community, and hope you will all find it as meaningful as I have.

- Bhavya