> I also know a number of engineers who never got that sort of technical mentoring, and I watched as their career stagnated.
I think i am currently going on this direction. Assuming i don't have access to such thoughtful companies as yours (my country's sofware industry is underdeveloped), do you know how could i get that kind of technical mentoring needed for my career?
Do a project of your own. Pick some problem you see around you and solve it to the stage that you deliver the final product. It could be as simple (or complicated) as a website for people to play Sudoku (if that's your thing). You'll learn a lot about software: how to pick the right data structures, how do you persist said data structures, how do you set up user login, how do you draw a 9x9 grid in HTML, etc. There is a lot of details that you can only learn by doing. You'll also train yourself to think as an owner of a problem, rather than a drone who gets told what to do.
Technical wise, if you want to get deep into a sub field (deep learning seems to be the buzzword these days, no pun intended), then pick some open source projects in that domain and try to contribute to it.
I think i am currently going on this direction. Assuming i don't have access to such thoughtful companies as yours (my country's sofware industry is underdeveloped), do you know how could i get that kind of technical mentoring needed for my career?