

Ask HN: Mentor Saturday - eatitraw

It is great to have a mentor and it is awesome to mentor someone.<p>HN is a community with a lot of talented people, and occasional threads[1] show that there is a demand for mentoring, so maybe we should experiment with having regular threads?<p>Let&#x27;s talk about mentoring and match mentors and mentees.<p>[1] Examples: https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=5696873 , https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=7693954 , https:&#x2F;&#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&#x2F;item?id=7783517
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BenderV
I'm a cs student in Europe (France), and I'm still struggling to find my road.

I have competence in IA, Machine Learning, Python, JS (node, express, meteor),
Angular but also Design (mockup, wireframe, bootstrap, css).

I don't see myself as a front-end engineer, nor a back-end engineer, nor data
science man.

So, I'm a full-stack engineer but without a deep knowledge in anything. I have
a hard time to feel confident enough to work for someone else, as they might
realize that I am an impostor (I know about the syndrome, but how can you be
sure not be one ?).

I would really like to have a mentor that could show me where I can evaluate
myself and where I should make progress.

Thanks !

benderville[at]gmail.com

~~~
bernatfp
I used to feel this way too (knowing about a broad range of things, but
thinking I was not good enough at anything specific to be "hireable"), but
luckily I realised this is not necessarily bad. Generalists are ideal people
to found a startup and they can be a huge asset to have at any company,
especially at small companies / startups. And furthermore, don't push yourself
too hard, at the end you're still a student. You can specialise later if you
want.

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rolleiflex
I'm a designer who's hoping to get better at engineering. I already know
languages and can make stuff with it. [0] However, I have found that
especially on bigger projects, the main hurdle becomes my own architecture, or
less-than-perfect engineering hampering future development. I want to improve
on that.

In reciprocity I can offer design mentorship, in interaction design, mobile
and desktop user interfaces, user experience design and user testing.

[0] [http://www.getaether.net](http://www.getaether.net)

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yankoff
I'm a programmer generalist who's on the quest to find specialization in
Machine Learning and AI in general. I'm trying to structure and optimize my
self-education in those fields to build up a solid foundation over the next
few years. I'm more interested in being able to apply those technologies to
solve interesting hard problems (with the building company in mind) than in
research. Would love to chat to people experienced or formally educated in
those fields, to get advice on how to structure the learning process better,
what to focus on and so on.

Also would love to meet anyone who has similar interests (or also psychology,
neuroscience, philosophy of mind).

Background: engineer with the experience in full-stack. Programmning: Scala,
Ruby, Python, JS. C/C++(long ago though)

Machine Learning: only finished coursera course and played with 101 Kaggle
competitions.

artem.yankov@gmail.com

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scalesolved
I'd be happy to help/mentor someone on backend development or general career
development. Currently working as a lead developer in Spain (Barcelona)
focusing on Java/Ruby Postgres/NoSQL.

I can also speak pretty good Spanish so if you don't feel confident in English
I can mentor in that (originally from UK).

~~~
pskittle
thanks for the offer, how can i get in touch with you.

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x_soda
I've been doing software development for about 2 years, still very much a
junior. I currently do backend work (Python, Django, asynchronous queue
workers, etc.) for a mid-sized startup in NYC. My company currently needs a
lot of infra/dev-ops work, but it doesn't have the resources to train a junior
to help in this sphere. I'd love to connect with someone who has some crazy
dev-ops/general linuxery skills under their belt, maybe just talk about/watch
how they work on large scale projects and get some tips on how to get
experience in this area without using my company's infra as a guinea pig.

I'm also very interested in audio signal processing. I've done a little work
with Apple's Core Audio API, but would love to chat with someone in NYC who
has real experience doing hardcore work with audio DSP.

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Gasketio
We’re a couple months away from launching a flipping sweet new product, and
despite a personal background in UI/UX, marketing & PR I need to cultivate a
better mentor network to make this a smooth launch. Frankly, I need someone I
can trust to validate the proper way of doing things, since as an
intentionally bootstrapped venture I keep making allowances for the cheap &
easy way of progressing. I just want to get better at this and give the
product the launch it deserves.

Some of the specific challenges:

\- Project managing a new product with a remote team member

\- Achieving great UX with a limited budget

\- How to capitalize on a successful launch & build relationships in the SF
tech community

We just submitted our first accelerator application to Angelpad, which would
be nice. Email in profile.

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dserban
I'm a developer who struggles with interaction design.

If anyone is good at designing intuitive user interfaces, I would like some
mentorship.

I know this request is better suited to Designer News, but I'll try here
first.

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padmanabh
We are building a product in India. We are currently working on an app that we
feel will change citizen's alienation with the administration and their
representatives, and the latter's perceived apathy towards the former. We are
also conceptually building a framework that attempts to resolve the internet
penetration vs telecom penetration anomaly in this country.

If anyone is interested in the what we're doing, or can offer to answer our
stupid questions occasionally (regarding dev, growth, strategy, or life and
its mysteries) drop us a line at team at merinagari dot in

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thethimble
I'm a former Googler/Software Engineer who has stepped into a CTO role at a
small startup. I'm learning how to deal with people which is a significantly
harder problem than dealing with computers :). Specifically, I'm responsible
for prioritizing features vs. infrastructure work and conveying the importance
of things like testing and code quality to non-technical leadership. I would
love to chat with someone in an engineering leadership role that has managed
to convince leadership that non-user-facing work is very vital to the company.

advait.shinde at gmail _ com

~~~
sunir
Non-user-facing work isn't vital. Market velocity is vital. You need to
demonstrate you can increase market velocity by investing in non-user-facing
work. If your investment in that work slows market velocity then your
investment return is negative.

Are you tracking engineering velocity? If so petition to do some internal
investment and see if velocity improves afterwards.

Also you should refactor as you go. That isn't even something you break out
into a separate task. Clean up messes as you work. Don't leave messes if you
can. Code review always and often, and on small changes.

Note: Market velocity is slightly different than user-facing changes. If you
have reliability or security failures you are reacting to, fixing them is user
facing but not improving your market velocity.

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rahulroy
I’m a final year CS student who is looking for some career advice from
experience developers. I've worked with Java, C#(asp.net) and Ruby on Rails on
various college level projects and looking for product/service based company
in India.

I would really like to have a mentor who can help me evaluate myself and guide
me through various career choices.

You can find me on twitter:
[https://twitter.com/iamrahulroy](https://twitter.com/iamrahulroy) Or contact
me through email: techniciablog[at] gmail dot com

Thanks,

\- Rahul

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jayshahtx
Machine learning focused CS undergrad in Austin, TX - would love to talk to a
data scientist in the industry for 30 mins.

I sense there is a large disconnect between ML research at university and
application of ML in industry. I'm most curious how teams work at Netflix,
Palantir, etc (at that scale and company size). I perpetually feel the
impostor syndrome in this space (even though I performed very well in CS
course work and research). If you can give me a glimpse of data science at
your company, I would be grateful!

jayshahtx[at]gmail.com

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twocommas
If you're an entrepreneur with a web/mobile startup that's got some traction
and you're not sure how to go about forming a business, scaling
infrastructure, monetizing, etc. feel free to reach out to me. As time permits
I'm happy to help mentor or advise you so you can build a good business
without making some of the mistakes a lot of us did when we didn't have that
advice. It doesn't matter where you're based, as long as you've got a
web/mobile product or service that's got some traction.

~~~
shankysingh
Thanks man.

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zhemao
I'm an entering Berkeley EECS PhD student starting in August of this year.
Willing to mentor local high school or undergraduate students majoring in or
considering majoring in CS, EE, Computer Engineering, or similar fields.

My experience is mainly in systems programming, embedded systems, computer
architecture, and digital hardware design. I can also talk about general
introductory CS or EE topics or how to get into College/Grad
School/Internships/Entry-Level Jobs.

zhehao.mao at gmail.com

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radikalus
I've never really been involved in 'formal' mentoring since my first employer
a long long time ago.

I try to meet up with young people interested in HFT for coffee or beer
if/when they come through Chicago and I've really found the experience
profoundly useful to me thus far.

Generally, this has just been facilitated by random LinkedIn messages by bold
students from one of my almas, but I imagine if I was less of a slacker, I
could more proactively be useful to people with an interest.

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arelangi
I have always thought a mentor-mentee relationship is essential for growth,
either personal or professional. Even though I am doing things that I want to
professionally (working for an early stage startup) I feel at times lost,
scared and completely clueless. Being an Indian living in Nebraska it is
almost impossible to find someone who can actually understand my concerns,
shares my values and provide relevant help.

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Envec83
Question: Do you guys agree that for the mentorship process to work both
people need to live at least nearby, to be able to meet in person one a month
at least?

In the past I asked for someone who is in US to act as a mentor, and he
agreed, but after a while it died down because exchanging emails and a call
once in a while wasn't enough to solidify the bound and it wasn't work as
intended.

Thoughts?

~~~
meira
Although I agree, it's very hard to find good mentors in some places.
Specifically, in Brazil. Talk to people from SV is far more useful than talk
to local successful businessmen, which is the ones treated as good mentors
here. HN offers a lot more good advises.

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shubhamjain
I am a developer who recently got bugged by Audio processing / Digital Signal
Processing. Putting it to use I was able to make a small whistle detection
program[1]. I need to know how can I improve this program or better say, a
primer on advance aspects of Audio analysis.

[1]:
[http://shubhamjain.github.io/whistlerr/](http://shubhamjain.github.io/whistlerr/)

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shankysingh
Hey Guys, I am a coder slash entrepreneur, who is trying something different
this time with "Helping Faceless". We are trying to find missing children in
india with technology but I am feeling absolutely lost on how figure out a
scalable model(business vise). Would love to have a mentor :

Url :www.helpingfaceless.com Email : community-manager at helpingfaceless.com

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markbao
This is a little different: I'm looking for a mentor who has worked in the
behavioral science / psychology field. I used to be a startup founder and
software developer, but now I'm looking to combine technology with behavioral
science. Also happy to chat with others who are interested.
mark[at]markbao.com

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eatitraw
Two questions: 1) If you ever considered getting a mentor(or being a mentor),
and you did find a mentor(or a mentee), how did you do it? HN? other web
forum? Work? Friends? 2) If you ever considered getting a mentor(or being a
mentor), but you didn't find mentor(or a mentee), what stopped you?

~~~
shrowaway
2) Startup depression. When you most need help, you're the least likely to get
it.

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helen842000
Anyone have the patience to mentor a true beginner in developing web apps? It
would be mainly answering basic questions and advising on best practises. I
feel with some interaction I could become a self-sufficient learner in a
reasonable time frame.

I'm my username at gmail.com

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logn
If there's anyone in Cincinnati interested in part-time (sporadic at this
point) contract work, get in touch with me (email in profile). I'm happy to
mentor you ask part of the work. It would basically be an internship and
working from home is fine.

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highace
Is there no website where you can join as a mentor or a student and then it
gives you a list of who you're looking for, perhaps sorted by distance?

It could cover anything, not just programming or startup culture.

I'm sure I've seen one before?

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simplegeek
I am running a small software services business. I really need a mentor a)-
who can help me improve our services business b)- help me venture into product
development. All help is appreciated.

Thanks. mwyounas@gmail.com

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theboss
I'm a recent grad with my MS in CS. I mostly focus on information security and
cryptography. I want to know everything about the two subjects.

I'm about to start working at a SaaS startup security company.

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lebinh
Had awesome experience with Codementor
([https://www.codementor.io/](https://www.codementor.io/)) recently, highly
recommended for anyone looking for help or helping others.

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pchristensen
[https://mentii.com](https://mentii.com)

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hath995
This sounds good to me. Perhaps the thread could set up short term matches
every week just to lower the barrier to entry for mentors and mentees.

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m_ke
Perfect timing. I'm considering starting a mentorship group in NYC for people
who are underrepresented in the tech community.

~~~
mattzito
I'm in nyc - let me know if you need mentors, we can talk.

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pop45
I'm graduating soon and feel lost. Some mentorship and or career advice would
help a lot. I'm in Europe.

~~~
eatitraw
What sphere do you consider? If it is software Development maybe I can help
somehow.

Also, "The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software
Development" is a great book for people starting a career in software
development

~~~
pop45
Thanks for answering. Yes, I'm considering software development. I expect to
complete my MSc (major: software engineering, minor: computer science) in sep
2014 but I have no idea what to do next. What kind of company to work for, how
to plan my career, etc. Any help would be awesome.

Thanks a lot for the book recommendation. I will be reading it for sure!

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capex
I am looking for entrepreneurial mentorship - would be great if you are in
Sydney.

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kgc
I suggest using Quora to get thoughtful answers to startup questions. You can
also ask anonymously if preferred.

