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Just choose very wisely who you invest your mentoring effort into. Nothing hurts more than putting years of energy into helping someone who simply never gets it

Just choose very wisely who you invest your mentoring effort into. Nothing hurts more than putting years of energy into helping someone who simply never gets it and stays a beginner. Being highly selective with that does a service both to yourself and to those who actually deserve it.

convolvatron 3y ago
Never had that problem. In general there aren’t very many people that are interested in what I have to teach. If we get past that it goes really well.
- RexM 3y ago
  You’ve piqued my interest. What do you have to teach?
  - convolvatron 3y ago
    Nothing mysterious. Architecture. Systems programming. Distributed systems.
beebmam 3y ago
Never seen that in my experience. My concern is mentoring people who end up abusing their earned skills/position for unethical things, which I've seen many times.
- kazinator 3y ago
  Over the years I've seen a handful of curious characters on Usenet and mailing lists who stick around for 15, 20 years or more and are still asking the same beginner questions, with scant evidence of having learned anything. Could be anterograde amnesia.
- gymbeaux 3y ago
  Can you give some examples of this?
meter 3y ago
I love mentoring engineers. It’s been my job for the past 5 years. But after some introspection, I’ve realized that I love teaching _smart_ people, or at least, people that are engaged and want to learn. I can’t imagine being a traditional teacher, and having to teach kids that don’t care. As a side note, some of the sharpest engineers I’ve mentored are interns. Maybe my company is exceptionally good at hiring interns. I swear, it’s been like that for the last 5-6 interns I’ve worked with.
- Shadow591 3y ago
  When you’re in intern the meat grinder hasn’t ate you up, yet. Everything is new and exciting. The longer I’ve been in my career the less motivation and the more discipline gets me through learning new technologies.
- ironchef 3y ago
  “I can’t imagine being a traditional teacher, and having to teach kids that don’t care.” What I’ve seen is igniting that spark and moving folks from not caring to caring (or realizing they can affect change) can be even more rewarding than the other mentoring being discussed
grrdotcloud 3y ago
I've heard this called "pushing a rope".
danparsonson 3y ago
Personally I think it's more about whether or not the mentee is making an honest effort to learn that dictates whether or not they're worth one's time. If a student is not 'getting it' then that's an invitation for the teacher to examine their teaching style and try to find different ways to pass on the knowledge; it's not a sign that they're not worth teaching.

convolvatron 3y ago

Never had that problem. In general there aren’t very many people that are interested in what I have to teach. If we get past that it goes really well.

RexM 3y ago
You’ve piqued my interest. What do you have to teach?
- convolvatron 3y ago
  Nothing mysterious. Architecture. Systems programming. Distributed systems.

beebmam 3y ago

Never seen that in my experience. My concern is mentoring people who end up abusing their earned skills/position for unethical things, which I've seen many times.

kazinator 3y ago
Over the years I've seen a handful of curious characters on Usenet and mailing lists who stick around for 15, 20 years or more and are still asking the same beginner questions, with scant evidence of having learned anything. Could be anterograde amnesia.
gymbeaux 3y ago
Can you give some examples of this?

meter 3y ago

I love mentoring engineers. It’s been my job for the past 5 years. But after some introspection, I’ve realized that I love teaching _smart_ people, or at least, people that are engaged and want to learn. I can’t imagine being a traditional teacher, and having to teach kids that don’t care. As a side note, some of the sharpest engineers I’ve mentored are interns. Maybe my company is exceptionally good at hiring interns. I swear, it’s been like that for the last 5-6 interns I’ve worked with.

Shadow591 3y ago
When you’re in intern the meat grinder hasn’t ate you up, yet. Everything is new and exciting. The longer I’ve been in my career the less motivation and the more discipline gets me through learning new technologies.
ironchef 3y ago
“I can’t imagine being a traditional teacher, and having to teach kids that don’t care.” What I’ve seen is igniting that spark and moving folks from not caring to caring (or realizing they can affect change) can be even more rewarding than the other mentoring being discussed

grrdotcloud 3y ago

I've heard this called "pushing a rope".

danparsonson 3y ago

Personally I think it's more about whether or not the mentee is making an honest effort to learn that dictates whether or not they're worth one's time. If a student is not 'getting it' then that's an invitation for the teacher to examine their teaching style and try to find different ways to pass on the knowledge; it's not a sign that they're not worth teaching.