4 ms·

I'm curious how much mentoring junior engineers actually need? Maybe it's because I'm a self-taught self-starter, but I've worked from home for all except one

by lapcat 3y ago

I'm curious how much mentoring junior engineers actually need? Maybe it's because I'm a self-taught self-starter, but I've worked from home for all except one year of my 17 year career, and I've managed to be successful despite never receiving any "mentoring". I've had co-workers, of course, and co-workers help each other when necessary, but we were basically equals.

flappyeagle 3y ago
Random question. Are you an only child? Firstborn?
- lapcat 3y ago
  Firstborn. Should I put that on my résumé? ;-)
  - fmajid 3y ago
    Jung's theory of birth order is about as scientific as the rest of his crackpot beliefs, and psychoanalysis in general.
    - danaris 3y ago
      Jung isn't the only one who has theorized about birth order making a difference in development.
Incipient 3y ago
One of the major advantages of mentoring for us "self taught" type is to get a second opinion and weed out bad habits. I can successfully write functional code, but having a colleague from a different background helped me enormously with how I worked and what I did. Also for a lot of companies hiring the "average" worker, who typically don't write code in their spare time on weekends, graduates need a lot more help to get up to speed.
- lapcat 3y ago
  > I can successfully write functional code, but having a colleague from a different background helped me enormously with how I worked and what I did. Is that mentoring or just standard collaboration with colleagues? Code review certainly isn't mentoring per se. > Also for a lot of companies hiring the "average" worker, who typically don't write code in their spare time on weekends, graduates need a lot more help to get up to speed. Well, BigCos are forcing a return to the office, and they supposedly hire "the best", not the average.
  - Incipient 3y ago
    >Is that mentoring or just standard collaboration with colleagues A combination of collaboration and informal discussion/mentoring. Code review absolutely isn't mentoring. It's the discussions around how to approach things, and other tips and tricks. >Well, BigCos are forcing a return to the office, and they supposedly hire "the best", not the average. The average worker is still better than 50% of the workforce. Big companies may get "better than average", but by definition the best only end up at a very small set of companies.
    - lapcat 3y ago
      > It's the discussions around how to approach things, and other tips and tricks. Senior developers do this with each other all the time. > by definition the best only end up at a very small set of companies. I was talking about a very small set of companies.

by lapcat 3y ago

flappyeagle 3y ago

Random question. Are you an only child? Firstborn?

lapcat 3y ago
Firstborn. Should I put that on my résumé? ;-)
- fmajid 3y ago
  Jung's theory of birth order is about as scientific as the rest of his crackpot beliefs, and psychoanalysis in general.
  - danaris 3y ago
    Jung isn't the only one who has theorized about birth order making a difference in development.

Incipient 3y ago

One of the major advantages of mentoring for us "self taught" type is to get a second opinion and weed out bad habits. I can successfully write functional code, but having a colleague from a different background helped me enormously with how I worked and what I did. Also for a lot of companies hiring the "average" worker, who typically don't write code in their spare time on weekends, graduates need a lot more help to get up to speed.

lapcat 3y ago
> I can successfully write functional code, but having a colleague from a different background helped me enormously with how I worked and what I did. Is that mentoring or just standard collaboration with colleagues? Code review certainly isn't mentoring per se. > Also for a lot of companies hiring the "average" worker, who typically don't write code in their spare time on weekends, graduates need a lot more help to get up to speed. Well, BigCos are forcing a return to the office, and they supposedly hire "the best", not the average.
- Incipient 3y ago
  >Is that mentoring or just standard collaboration with colleagues A combination of collaboration and informal discussion/mentoring. Code review absolutely isn't mentoring. It's the discussions around how to approach things, and other tips and tricks. >Well, BigCos are forcing a return to the office, and they supposedly hire "the best", not the average. The average worker is still better than 50% of the workforce. Big companies may get "better than average", but by definition the best only end up at a very small set of companies.
  - lapcat 3y ago
    > It's the discussions around how to approach things, and other tips and tricks. Senior developers do this with each other all the time. > by definition the best only end up at a very small set of companies. I was talking about a very small set of companies.