you know, in 2014 i did mentor 10 people (newbies, either from college, or switching professions) into software domain, in Ericsson/Ireland, for few months. It was great fun, and they are all seniors now - about half still in Ericsson.
BUT.. ever since then i have been looking for another gig like that, to no avail.
Esp. recently, it seems the "new" idea is that programmers grow on trees anyway.
Go figure..
> BUT.. ever since then i have been looking for another gig like that, to no avail.
I just mentor people whether the larger org wants me to or not. I'm running a programming class for my colleagues whose backgrounds are weak. Either fresh out of college and never worked on anything big, or worked as engineers but never developers. It's very common in aerospace for EEs to end up as developers despite their lack of knowledge around programming and CS.
I just slotted out 1 hour every two weeks and invited people. Now I've got some of them writing tools on their own where they previously would have needed more assistance. Ths is the first time I've done classes rather than more one-on-one style, but regardless of the style, if a manager complains I just ignore it. What are they going to do? Fire me for building up the team and making everyone more competent, capable, and independent?
That mentoring gig shaped my python-essentials-course - about 4-7 sessions, with them homework exercises - which i have been teaching to various people since then (about ~80ppl so far, in maybe 15 points in time). Only 2-3 times did i manage to sell it and get some money. All others has been either for near-free, or within the company i have been working in - for free as well. Not even kudos from management or whatever. Once even got a warning "not to waste people's time".
You know, if someone does something anyway because s/he loves it, why pay for that? "Long term" answer is - because you want that to be available again, but IMO "long term" has fallen out-of-fashion, in software making, or even in general.
And this is what it is all about as they are now seniors, I'm sure startups are now vying for their experience. (even though they probably cannot afford them anyway)
BUT.. ever since then i have been looking for another gig like that, to no avail.
Esp. recently, it seems the "new" idea is that programmers grow on trees anyway. Go figure..