Please stop dropping this empty-yet-well-meaning line - you're not the only one in this field who does this, either. I understand that it's not with ill intentions, but it's a feel-good line that people with experience like to drop on the internet as a catch-all piece of advice for how to develop software competency. The mentorship culture doesn't permeate nearly as strong as many of you think. Smiling and going "find a good mentor!" hides the complexity of the task and is disingenuous - it's a task that is limited by physical geography, electronic geography (the online communities one frequents), workplace culture (for the employed), and sociability of all parties involved, and a task that changes based on whether or not the recipient of this line is employed or in higher education at the undergraduate level. It can even be limited or change based on the mentor-seeker's current tech stack.
I'd venture to say that stunningly few people actually actively thought "I think I'll go and ask someone to mentor me" and then went and did it because of all the reasons you say and more.
I would imagine most mentorship is of the incidental kind that just happens as you work with colleagues and some of them teach you things that take you to places you wouldn't necessarily have gotten to on your own. You may in turn do the same for others without realising it.
Definitely working alongside good developers naturally benefits you greatly.
Please stop dropping this empty-yet-well-meaning line - you're not the only one in this field who does this, either. I understand that it's not with ill intentions, but it's a feel-good line that people with experience like to drop on the internet as a catch-all piece of advice for how to develop software competency. The mentorship culture doesn't permeate nearly as strong as many of you think. Smiling and going "find a good mentor!" hides the complexity of the task and is disingenuous - it's a task that is limited by physical geography, electronic geography (the online communities one frequents), workplace culture (for the employed), and sociability of all parties involved, and a task that changes based on whether or not the recipient of this line is employed or in higher education at the undergraduate level. It can even be limited or change based on the mentor-seeker's current tech stack.