I've never really had a mentor and I'm honestly not sure what sort of professional relationship is even being described here. Is this like a professional parent

I've never really had a mentor and I'm honestly not sure what sort of professional relationship is even being described here. Is this like a professional parent who teaches you stuff and checks in on you and keeps you steered in the right direction, and steers you away from wrong directions? I don't think such a person exists, and if they did, I'd question both their motives and advice. Maybe this is a common sort of long-term professional relationship in other cultures or fields or something? I understand why people who are in the early stages of learning about a career would want to know someone like this. How awesome would it be to have someone to help you make career choices. I guess I just assumed that it was always (understandable) wishful thinking on the part of high schoolers or CS undergrads who weren't quite sure how to get to where they want to go, or who don't know where they want to go yet and are seeking advice. On the other hand I've learned an utterly tremendous amount from just about everyone I've ever worked with, including people way older than me and way younger than me. You can learn useful stuff about tech and life and careers from most people that you encounter in your desired career, and a lot of people you encounter outside of it. Nobody's going to have the answers you need for your own life, the best you can hope for is to absorb whatever kernels of wisdom you can from people you encounter that you respect. Maybe some of those people were micro-mentors, or just good people to work with, and hopefully at least some of them felt like they learned something from me too but who knows. You can also learn tremendous amounts just from Internet forums like HN or Reddit. There's also tremendous amounts of BS or things that are irrelevant to you, but being able to sniff out the good stuff from amongst the garbage is a required skill these days. The only dogmatic thing I'll say is don't believe anyone who's dogmatic about anything. If anyone tells you that there is One True Way to do anything, immediately doubt everything else that person has ever told told you (including me and what I just wrote). That you have to use this or that programming language, that you have to use this or that editor or tool or OS or API. There's no shortage of people in tech that aren't wired up to make the distinction between personal preferences and immutable laws of the universe. Just find what you like and dive into it headfirst. No amount of training or advice will substitute for self-motivated passion, interest, and curiosity, especially in the early stages of one's education or career.