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I find the bit about mentoring people outside your org interesting. I'm interested in mentorship myself. Does anyone know if there are actually rewarding mentor

I find the bit about mentoring people outside your org interesting. I'm interested in mentorship myself. Does anyone know if there are actually rewarding mentorship programs on websites like meetup.com? Has anyone else done this?

hodgesrm 8y ago
Check with your local university or community college for mentoring opportunities. For example, the University of California at Davis has a senior design class in their computer science program. You can submit a proposal for a project; if it's accepted you become the mentor and work with the students a couple hours a week over 4 to 5 months. I did this last year and found it extremely rewarding. Edit: fixed typo
- tudelo 8y ago
  Did you have to pay money to do this?
  - hodgesrm 8y ago
    No, it was more like just write a good proposal. There was a problem related to Swagger API specs that had been bugging me for a while, so I wrote it up and sent it in. I was delighted when it was accepted. I'm planning to submit another project this year. Working with students is fun. p.s., The class is ECS 193AB in case any folks living near Davis are interested.
mkirklions 8y ago
What do you have to offer? Im an ambitious person with credentials, but programming is not my day job and Ive made marketing mistakes on my popular website.
- CardenB 8y ago
  Definitely technical mentorship- especially in robotics. Also great career advice for people starting out in their career (in university for CS or graduating soon/just graduated, picking between entry level offers) up to 2 years into career. Or grad school advice.
  - mkirklions 8y ago
    Id be looking for web programming and business savvy skills. Btw, Ive recently fell in-love with embedded systems. Ive built a dishwasher that sets your dinnertable. But the issue is the business, not the tech.
zerkten 8y ago
I have done this, but it can be harder to manage. Watch you don't burn yourself out. Mentoring someone inside your org, but outside your immediate team is often a better option because the motivations are clearer and the individual is getting inputs from you, their manager, their team, other individuals in the broader org. When it's someone completely outside it can be much harder to understand the motivating factors, reinforce learning, ensure follow through etc. As a result, scoping the mentorship and building up a successful relationship is harder. Example: You meet someone looking to build non-trivial sites with Django to make a career switch. If you discover they are deficient in Python, do you go down that rabbit hole, or stick to only Django? Unless you and they are really motivated things can break down quickly. Inside an org you might have the option of supporting that person talking to their manager about taking a formal training course. Of course you can suggest similar to a random individual at a meetup, but the follow through often isn't going to the same extent.

hodgesrm 8y ago

Check with your local university or community college for mentoring opportunities. For example, the University of California at Davis has a senior design class in their computer science program. You can submit a proposal for a project; if it's accepted you become the mentor and work with the students a couple hours a week over 4 to 5 months. I did this last year and found it extremely rewarding. Edit: fixed typo

tudelo 8y ago
Did you have to pay money to do this?
- hodgesrm 8y ago
  No, it was more like just write a good proposal. There was a problem related to Swagger API specs that had been bugging me for a while, so I wrote it up and sent it in. I was delighted when it was accepted. I'm planning to submit another project this year. Working with students is fun. p.s., The class is ECS 193AB in case any folks living near Davis are interested.

mkirklions 8y ago

What do you have to offer? Im an ambitious person with credentials, but programming is not my day job and Ive made marketing mistakes on my popular website.

CardenB 8y ago
Definitely technical mentorship- especially in robotics. Also great career advice for people starting out in their career (in university for CS or graduating soon/just graduated, picking between entry level offers) up to 2 years into career. Or grad school advice.
- mkirklions 8y ago
  Id be looking for web programming and business savvy skills. Btw, Ive recently fell in-love with embedded systems. Ive built a dishwasher that sets your dinnertable. But the issue is the business, not the tech.

zerkten 8y ago

I have done this, but it can be harder to manage. Watch you don't burn yourself out. Mentoring someone inside your org, but outside your immediate team is often a better option because the motivations are clearer and the individual is getting inputs from you, their manager, their team, other individuals in the broader org. When it's someone completely outside it can be much harder to understand the motivating factors, reinforce learning, ensure follow through etc. As a result, scoping the mentorship and building up a successful relationship is harder. Example: You meet someone looking to build non-trivial sites with Django to make a career switch. If you discover they are deficient in Python, do you go down that rabbit hole, or stick to only Django? Unless you and they are really motivated things can break down quickly. Inside an org you might have the option of supporting that person talking to their manager about taking a formal training course. Of course you can suggest similar to a random individual at a meetup, but the follow through often isn't going to the same extent.