4 ms·

How did you get mentor?

• nonotreally 6y ago
  Networking IRL. Most people think networking is trading business cards. Don't do this. It's pointless and doesn't work. Talk to people. Talk to everyone. Be interested in what they say. Be interesting. The best way to be interesting is to do interesting things. You can do interesting things by being interested. I met my mentor at the gym. We were talking about gym stuff and eventually he said something I recognized as technical. I followed up and kept asking _good_ questions. I respected their time but made it clear I valued their input. We developed our relationship overtime and eventually formalized it. I asked him directly to help me and he was excited to help. We all love helping people. It feels good. This is also how I got my first tech job (different people, same process). Talk to people and be interested in them and their lives. Sometimes this will provide opportunities. Don't do it with the intention of creating a transaction. If I _needed_ a tech mentor, I would hang out with tech people. Tech people hang out with other tech people. Go hang out there (this is obviously harder due to covid, but we're almost through it). Gyms, gun ranges, music stores, libraries all attract these people. Saying "Hi" is the hardest part.