
You should be a mentor - koomerang
http://robertheaton.com/2013/04/25/you-should-be-a-mentor/
======
edw519
_“That guy doesn’t know shit. Why should I listen to him?"_

If you have to ask that question, then you already know the answer.

With a good mentor, thoughts like that would never even enter your mind. Why?
Because a good mentor would never just tell you what to do, he/she would share
data in such a way that you would _learn_ what to do.

If you don't find a way to turn mentor input into new actionable wisdom very
quickly (even instantly) and feel confident about it, then it's probably time
to find another mentor.

~~~
rudasn
Can you please elaborate on what you think is a good mentor, and how one may
become a good mentor?

On that note, I've been considering of mentoring entry/medium-level developers
for some time now but I seriously don't know what exactly that entails.

My goal is to help people understand and appreciate the importance of well
formed, semantic HTML and CSS and unobtrusive javascript.

My belief is that all these different libraries/frameworks (Backbone, Angular,
Bootstrap, Foundation, etc etc) confuse new comers and abstract them from
actually learning the importance of well written HTML/CSS/JS in developer
productivity and application maintenance.

Sometimes these libs make it very easy for developers to focus too much on
short term gains at the expense of long-term maintainability and understanding
what the code they publish actually does!

If anyone wants to help me become a mentor by mentoring them on HTML, CSS, JS
please let me know.

~~~
nahname
Why not do a session/presentation/lunch&learn on how to build web apps without
a library. Or how to build something like backbone. Showing teams how to test
their front end code is also a great way to introduce better practices and
more concern for quality.

The biggest challenge to being a mentor isn't wisdom, it is respect. The
person you are trying to teach needs to respect you before they will be
willing to learn from you.

~~~
rudasn
> Why not do a session/presentation/lunch&learn on how to build web apps
> without a library.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that I think libraries are bad - on the contrary.
It's just that I'm really puzzled by people who are willing to blindly use
some piece of code, and build their codebase around that code, without even
understanding what that library actually does. This mostly happens with
CSS/HTML libraries which unfortunately are considered to be second-class
citizens nowadays as opposed to javascript frameworks. No, your HTML/CSS is
equally or more important than, dare I say, the javascript framework of the
day.

> The biggest challenge to being a mentor isn't wisdom, it is respect. The
> person you are trying to teach needs to respect you before they will be
> willing to learn from you.

As a self-taught professional, I really don't understand this. I can see why
that would be the case, but I still can't really "get it".

Respect is important, and it goes both ways, but I'm not sure if it's (or
should be) something that happens before even having some interaction with the
other person.

I may respect the work someone has done but it doesn't necessarily mean that I
respect them as a teacher (although learning from someone's work is still on
the table) because I don't know beforehand how good of a teacher they are. At
the same time, I may not respect the work someone has done but it doesn't mean
I have nothing to learn from them.

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codegeek
Yes you should be a mentor or whatever you want to call it. It does not mean
you have to be an absolute expert at something to be a mentor. It means that
you are willing to _advice/share_ your experiences with someone else with the
goal of helping them with whatever you can. For example, so what if you are
not a superstar code ninja/rockstar or whatever it is. You can still talk to
someone about what _you_ know and give them some options to think about.

I would encourage everyone to be a "mentor". Go and talk to some
younger/junior/less experienced people and you will realize how much they need
you. No matter how small, you could make a difference. And you want to know
another secret? You will suddenly realize how much you actually know when you
try to teach/mentor someone else. You will also improve your _own_ skills
including communication, interaction etc etc.

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Expez
Some of you might be interested to give this mentoring stuff a try, either as
a montor or as a student. If so, you might be interested in checking out the
Learn Programming Mentoring Community (LPMC).

This project was started when it became clear that quite a few posters in
r/learnprogramming wanted to contribute to open source projects, but didn't
know how or noticed that having their PR rejected did in fact not afford the
greatest learning experience. LPMC aims to, among other things:

1\. Match students with projects

2\. Help students create pull requests worthy of being merged by upstream
(offloading busy maintainers)

If this sounds interesting you can check out
<http://learnprogramming.github.io/> or come shoot the shit in
#lpmc@irc.freenode.net

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Articulate
I think calling yourself a "mentor" gets the response it does because it is
like calling yourself "successful"- according to who? It just doesn't fit into
the model of western culture of speaking with humility. It risks alienating
people- no one would disagree with you if you said "I really listen to people
at these events." Aren't you actually suggesting that you try to be a good
listener and offer helpful advice.

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mindcrime
Teaching / mentoring / coaching is good for you as well. Trying to teach
others forces you to learn your subject even better than you already know it.
Additionally, the questions and counter-points and feedback you get from
students / people you're mentoring /etc. will expose you to new ideas and new
ways of thinking, which you can then integrate and synthesize around.

I don't know if I'd be able to do much "one on one" mentoring, as time is
awfully limited right now. But I have a lecture/class or two in mind that I'll
probably offer to teach somewhere in the RTP area later this year. I have
learned enough about market research to do a useful one or two night session
on the topic.

No, I'm not an expert on it, but what I've learned in the past 2 years would
possibly be beneficial to the people who are now, where I was two years ago. I
figure if I can help shorten someone else's learning curve, that's a good
thing. And, inevitably, if I do the class, I'll learn a lot from the process
itself.

So yeah, if you have some useful knowledge you've accumulated (and you
probably do) teach a class, or take on a pupil to mentor. It's a win-win for
everybody.

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Cakez0r
This post read like a bit of a humblebrag to me. I think it's fine to go to
events and share experiences as part of conversation - the community is a big
part of making a great event. To go to an event with the mindset of being a
mentor to other people when you're just another guy trying to get a startup
off the ground would definitely put me off.

“That guy doesn’t know shit. Why should I listen to him? Why is he even here?”
I'd be that guy. I wouldn't be presuming you don't know shit or wondering why
you're here, but rather wondering why a guy in the same position as most
people trying to launch a startup is mentoring people.

Having said that, promoting oneself seems to be part of entrepreneurial
culture and I don't blame you for seizing the opportunity to do it.

~~~
mindcrime
_To go to an event with the mindset of being a mentor to other people when
you're just another guy trying to get a startup off the ground would
definitely put me off._

Why? You don't believe he may have learned some useful stuff from the
_process_ of "trying to get a startup off the ground"? Some "stuff" that could
be useful to someone who is earlier in their own journey than the OP? If so,
why wouldn't he share?

And as far as that goes... I don't know about you, but I subscribe to the
belief that "everybody can learn something from pretty much everybody else".

There's also something to be said for the old saw about how an expert's mind
is full and closed to new possibilities, while a beginner doesn't know what is
"not possible" and can therefore discover new things more easily.

~~~
Cakez0r
_I wouldn't be presuming you don't know shit or wondering why you're here_

 _I think it's fine to go to events and share experiences as part of
conversation_

I absolutely think you can learn something from everybody. In this situation,
I feel that should be in the context of learning from a peer, rather than a
mentor

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swanify
Great post!

I've started a number of businesses over the past 10 years, first of which was
when i was 17, i've learned so much over this time, but had dismissed it as
general knowledge.

Recently I took part in an accelerator here in the UK and one of the things I
enjoyed most was offering advise to other teams, even just on simple things
like Tax/Vat etc. I really didn't appreciate that much of the knowledge I've
amassed over the past 10 years was valuable to people in the early stage of a
new business.

I'm hoping to be invited back to that accelerator as a mentor this year, and
I'd hope I can do this for other accelerators too as it's extremely rewarding,
I'd almost say I find it more rewarding helping others than building my own
startup!

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simon_weber
The same advice applies for undergrads (though I wouldn't call myself a
mentor). For a year or two now I've been part of a group of students who hold
volunteer CS "office hours". We normally get visits from frustrated students
who aren't in CS, and are able to make a huge difference for these people.

We don't get paid, but I still benefit from it, of course; my knowledge and
teaching ability have both greatly improved. It's fun, too =)

A word of advice: operate outside of your school's official tutoring system.
Just get a bunch of friends and make yourselves known within your department:
you'll spend less time working the system and more time helping people. Feel
free to get in touch for advice.

------
neebz
For me the only criteria is to stay away from 'mentors' who have never worked
on a product.

Being in Pakistan, I get to meet tons of industry experts who have racked up
millions solely by outsourcing and creating low-quality software for cheap.
All they do is that they bring you down to their own ambition-level. Don't
listen to them !

some real life examples:

"so why would you like to hire such an expensive resource here when you can
get two average developers for a lot less and he can get your job done? that's
bur resource management"

"you mentioned celebrities in your pitch but let me just tell you one thing ,
those people will never use your app"

~~~
pestaa
I understand where you're coming from, but the examples provided are not that
good. First of all, I'd build everything with the possibility in mind that
celebrities won't actually use my app. Helps me focus on the benefits for the
average user. Secondly, if a pair of good developers can truly get the job
done for a lot less, I would seriously consider going that route instead of an
expensive solo hero.

Having said that, too limited ambition can get you the same result that too
much ambition can.

------
riveteye
Learn from other people, let people learn from you. A great way to cultivate a
more fulsome understanding of a topic is to try to describe it to others, to
share your understanding with others. Mentoring is like writing that way, and
like writing, you can't expect to be good at it without practice. I think
sharing what you know with people, people who you believe are both less and
more knowledgeable than you, is incredibly beneficial to any environment
(work, play, whatever). MENTOR EVERYONE!

~~~
dfriedmn
Couldn't agree more – when we started Thinkful (mentor-led training for front-
end development), my co-founder and I mentored every student ourselves, and it
was amazing how quickly it exposed every hole in our understanding of even
basic concepts. Even though the team has grown and we now have 12 mentors, we
still try to work with a few students because we enjoy it so much.

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6d0debc071
It seems like a nice thing to do to help people out. I can see a reason why
some people might be sceptical though: It's difficult to tell the difference
between someone who's made mistakes and can share that with you, and someone
who's just wasting your time. Success helps to differentiate the two.

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scrabble
I would love a mentor. How do you find mentors in software development? Pick a
public figure that you respect?

~~~
goatcurious
I'd say more than a public figure, reach out to folks with good software
development experience with a specific query. See how they respond, and take
the conversation from there.

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wasd
Is anyone looking for a mentoree? I'm a self taught software engineer at a
small company in the SF Bay Area. I studied mathematics at Berkeley. Lived in
Los Angeles most of my life. Worked in film, real estate and advertising
prior. I even helped start a company before I knew what HN was!

~~~
jonny_eh
Sure. I'd love to help out, get in touch: jon+hn@jonabrams.com

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ritchiea
How about the opposite question, at the beginning of your career how do you
find mentors?

