3 ms·

IDK maybe I've never had good mentors, but I honestly can't think of much that I've learned to "level up my talent" from the people I work with. I do learn from

IDK maybe I've never had good mentors, but I honestly can't think of much that I've learned to "level up my talent" from the people I work with. I do learn from reading code and from books by experts in whatever areas I'm involved in. Sure I learn where the bathroom is, what the specific local dev workflow is, etc. but in terms of fundamentally improving my skills as a developer that has always been to a very large degree due to my own efforts at seeking out knowledge.

aeoleonn 5y ago
I agree. I don't know that skill growth can be provided by "mentorship". At most, I think mentorship can provide (or is perhaps conflated with providing) direction & guidance. I've never been in the situation where someone can magically grow my skills for me, or download information into my brain for me. Sure, there's exposure to ideas regarding programming frameworks, ways of doing things, system design ideas to receive from colleagues & supervisors. And communication & leadership knowledge & experience gained as well.
specialist 5y ago
Agreed. The mentoring I benefitted from was never from other programmers. Most of my colleagues have been antagonists. Elders to learn from were few. I started a book club just to have some peeps to geek with. Maybe it's a cohort thing. I've definitely coached, mentored a lot of other people.
patrick451 5y ago
I agree. I'd say the vast majority of any mentoring I've gotten hasn't been technical. It's been more along the lines of "this how to manage your work in Jira." Or softer skills like learning how to prioritize tasks given the org goals. But covid hit when I was maybe 6 months into my tech career, and I honestly don't feel like it had any negative impact. All of these things were transmitted just as effectively in a zoom call as they were in person.

3 ms·

IDK maybe I've never had good mentors, but I honestly can't think of much that I've learned to "level up my talent" from the people I work with. I do learn from

by throwawayboise 5y ago

aeoleonn 5y ago
I agree. I don't know that skill growth can be provided by "mentorship". At most, I think mentorship can provide (or is perhaps conflated with providing) direction & guidance. I've never been in the situation where someone can magically grow my skills for me, or download information into my brain for me. Sure, there's exposure to ideas regarding programming frameworks, ways of doing things, system design ideas to receive from colleagues & supervisors. And communication & leadership knowledge & experience gained as well.
specialist 5y ago
Agreed. The mentoring I benefitted from was never from other programmers. Most of my colleagues have been antagonists. Elders to learn from were few. I started a book club just to have some peeps to geek with. Maybe it's a cohort thing. I've definitely coached, mentored a lot of other people.
patrick451 5y ago
I agree. I'd say the vast majority of any mentoring I've gotten hasn't been technical. It's been more along the lines of "this how to manage your work in Jira." Or softer skills like learning how to prioritize tasks given the org goals. But covid hit when I was maybe 6 months into my tech career, and I honestly don't feel like it had any negative impact. All of these things were transmitted just as effectively in a zoom call as they were in person.