5 ms·

Show HN: Who's Mentoring?

75 points by quickthrower2 9y ago

jansho 9y ago
This is a really nice address book, thanks :) The UI is bare but does what it says on the tin. I hope this list keeps growing!
pagade 9y ago
Details field should not be allowed to be blank.
gfredtech 9y ago
Apparently, it was inspired by this HN post which was flagged by mods for some reason: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15148619 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15148619
- j_s 9y ago
  > flagged by mods for some reason It is uncharitably disingenuous (at best) to imply there somehow remains any confusion as to why the post was flagged. A complaint about someone having to ask for an explanation might be legitimate. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15151412 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15151412 >dang: we're pretty rigorous about moderating this sort of thread out, because it's not the core focus of the site. HN's core focus is the goose that lays the golden eggs. Taking care of HN means taking care of the goose and (mostly) foregoing everything else Props for the link to the previous discussion, and props to the whomevers persevering through to this implementation of an MVP getting which will hopefully support getting this process off the ground.
destrynd 9y ago
Is the expectation that mentors get compensated hourly? I'm not sure how this arrangement works.
- rawnlq 9y ago
  I have plenty of younger friends who I mentor in terms of basic life/career coaching and I don't really expect anything in return. Even if it's free (and so far it seems like it's not and mostly freelancers looking for clients), I think it's a great idea to have something like this to help the next Hardy/Ramanujan find each other.
- j_s 9y ago
  Many are willing to share advice, independently of the value that doing so provides. Usually the degree to which it is heeded quickly tempers the quantity (and perhaps quality) that is shared.
- luckydude 9y ago
  I wouldn't expect compensation if someone is sincere in wanting to learn and shows ability. As Confucius said: If I hold up 3 corners of a square and the student does not hold up the 4th, I do not go over the point again.
zwischenzug 9y ago
My experience of 'mentoring' like this has been not requests for mentoring, but 'solve my problem please, and do it for free'. I was thinking a 'solution' to this would be mutual mentoring: exchange your expertise in X with another's expertise in Y.
- j_s 9y ago
  There are sites that offer experts for hire in a mercenary-like fashion, but most suffer from the network effect requiring both sides of the transaction to exist in large enough numbers. Global competition being want it is, even fiverr can work for something like this.
- fiatjaf 9y ago
  If you go to codementor.io you'll find exactly that. Apparently people do pay, but they don't want a mentor at all (also, the sheer majority of people who request a mentor end up not hiring any -- or even replying to their messages). The whole thing is a mess.
j_s 9y ago
In the longer term it makes sense to implement Craigslist-like email proxying and eBay-like (-ish) reviews on behalf of both parties involved in mentorship. ("I didn't learn anything" vs. "never answered an email in less than two weeks" and all the other things that will go wrong as various motivations limit particiation.) Perhaps an opt-in to publish interactions could protect both parties? A larger focus on simplifying the process of preserving mentorship sessions with the intention of developing a collection of recommendations made available publicly could provide monetization options down the road. Recording Skype sessions, integrating a collaborative editing environment with archival, etc. A tremendous amount of value is being transferred and any attempt to capture and multicast that could pay off even just in allowing a later read-only opportunity to learn. (I would encourage anyone signing up to perform this archival themselves with full awareness and approval of both parties involved.) Tie in deep LinkedIn and GitHub integration to tick all the buzzword boxes on future resumes and recommendations (somehow without driving the wisely paranoid/most experienced mentors away) and this tool could really help people improve their standard of living by getting a better job!
dorfsmay 9y ago
For programing subjects, what is the advantage of this over a specialised subreddit or mailing list / usenet?
tiuPapa 9y ago
Hey, I am not sure how this works. I am learning on my own and have occasional doubts where I can't find a clear answer via googling and would love to chat about it with someone. So do I need to pay for such mentorship? If so, how? Monthly? Hourly? Is it like a consultation where I have to pay for each session?
techaddict009 9y ago
I am surprised to see no one in blockchain/cryptocurrency in the list.
- tiuPapa 9y ago
  Ye, I too have been searching someone knowledgeable about blockchains.
SolaceQuantum 9y ago
There is not much here to tell a given mentee if they should expect to pay people for their advice or if the mentor expects to be treated like a consultant.
quickthrower2 9y ago
Thanks for having a look at the site. I have added the 15 or so new submissions - except the butcher (!). Tech stack, if you are interested is: Hugo to generate the page. Originally I had to create one "post" markdown file per entry. That got tedious, so now it reads from the CSV I download from the contact form. Hugo supports this natively so no coding. Hosted on Google cloud storage. I presume there have been no problems with slowness!

75 points by quickthrower2 9y ago

This is a really nice address book, thanks :) The UI is bare but does what it says on the tin. I hope this list keeps growing!

pagade 9y ago

Details field should not be allowed to be blank.

gfredtech 9y ago

Apparently, it was inspired by this HN post which was flagged by mods for some reason: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15148619 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15148619

j_s 9y ago
> flagged by mods for some reason It is uncharitably disingenuous (at best) to imply there somehow remains any confusion as to why the post was flagged. A complaint about someone having to ask for an explanation might be legitimate. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15151412 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15151412 >dang: we're pretty rigorous about moderating this sort of thread out, because it's not the core focus of the site. HN's core focus is the goose that lays the golden eggs. Taking care of HN means taking care of the goose and (mostly) foregoing everything else Props for the link to the previous discussion, and props to the whomevers persevering through to this implementation of an MVP getting which will hopefully support getting this process off the ground.

destrynd 9y ago

Is the expectation that mentors get compensated hourly? I'm not sure how this arrangement works.

rawnlq 9y ago
I have plenty of younger friends who I mentor in terms of basic life/career coaching and I don't really expect anything in return. Even if it's free (and so far it seems like it's not and mostly freelancers looking for clients), I think it's a great idea to have something like this to help the next Hardy/Ramanujan find each other.
j_s 9y ago
Many are willing to share advice, independently of the value that doing so provides. Usually the degree to which it is heeded quickly tempers the quantity (and perhaps quality) that is shared.
luckydude 9y ago
I wouldn't expect compensation if someone is sincere in wanting to learn and shows ability. As Confucius said: If I hold up 3 corners of a square and the student does not hold up the 4th, I do not go over the point again.

zwischenzug 9y ago

My experience of 'mentoring' like this has been not requests for mentoring, but 'solve my problem please, and do it for free'. I was thinking a 'solution' to this would be mutual mentoring: exchange your expertise in X with another's expertise in Y.

j_s 9y ago
There are sites that offer experts for hire in a mercenary-like fashion, but most suffer from the network effect requiring both sides of the transaction to exist in large enough numbers. Global competition being want it is, even fiverr can work for something like this.
fiatjaf 9y ago
If you go to codementor.io you'll find exactly that. Apparently people do pay, but they don't want a mentor at all (also, the sheer majority of people who request a mentor end up not hiring any -- or even replying to their messages). The whole thing is a mess.

j_s 9y ago

In the longer term it makes sense to implement Craigslist-like email proxying and eBay-like (-ish) reviews on behalf of both parties involved in mentorship. ("I didn't learn anything" vs. "never answered an email in less than two weeks" and all the other things that will go wrong as various motivations limit particiation.) Perhaps an opt-in to publish interactions could protect both parties? A larger focus on simplifying the process of preserving mentorship sessions with the intention of developing a collection of recommendations made available publicly could provide monetization options down the road. Recording Skype sessions, integrating a collaborative editing environment with archival, etc. A tremendous amount of value is being transferred and any attempt to capture and multicast that could pay off even just in allowing a later read-only opportunity to learn. (I would encourage anyone signing up to perform this archival themselves with full awareness and approval of both parties involved.) Tie in deep LinkedIn and GitHub integration to tick all the buzzword boxes on future resumes and recommendations (somehow without driving the wisely paranoid/most experienced mentors away) and this tool could really help people improve their standard of living by getting a better job!

dorfsmay 9y ago

For programing subjects, what is the advantage of this over a specialised subreddit or mailing list / usenet?

tiuPapa 9y ago

Hey, I am not sure how this works. I am learning on my own and have occasional doubts where I can't find a clear answer via googling and would love to chat about it with someone. So do I need to pay for such mentorship? If so, how? Monthly? Hourly? Is it like a consultation where I have to pay for each session?

techaddict009 9y ago

I am surprised to see no one in blockchain/cryptocurrency in the list.

tiuPapa 9y ago
Ye, I too have been searching someone knowledgeable about blockchains.

SolaceQuantum 9y ago

There is not much here to tell a given mentee if they should expect to pay people for their advice or if the mentor expects to be treated like a consultant.

quickthrower2 9y ago

Thanks for having a look at the site. I have added the 15 or so new submissions - except the butcher (!). Tech stack, if you are interested is: Hugo to generate the page. Originally I had to create one "post" markdown file per entry. That got tedious, so now it reads from the CSV I download from the contact form. Hugo supports this natively so no coding. Hosted on Google cloud storage. I presume there have been no problems with slowness!