5 ms·

I am offering mentoring: In which I help you

28 points by crescit_eundo 2y ago

not_your_vase 2y ago
There are a bunch of questions, and some answers to these questions too. But one question-answer pair is missing. I can only ask the question: who are you?
- melvinmelih 2y ago
  Someone else had the same question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31815204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31815204
- iugtmkbdfil834 2y ago
  This is a question that is not asked often enough lately. For better or worse, best predictor of human behavior is still what they have done in the past...
  - lordgrenville 2y ago
    So many anonymous writers on Substack who seem to take pride in giving zero biographical information. Then they write geopolitical analysis or whatever with enormous confidence, frequently calling out the experts in the field as idiots. I guess they'd argue that the author's identity shouldn't matter and that one should just judge the writing on its own merit. The problem is that we're drowning in information. AI makes its trivial to generate authoritative-looking nonsense. Evaluation is costly. So I prefer to read something which the author has associated with their own identity (which means there's a cost to lying), or has provided some credentials to prove why their opinion matters. Of course there are exceptions (Gwern comes to mind), but I'll only trust them if they're recommended by other writers I trust.
    - iugtmkbdfil834 2y ago
      I can accept some level of anonymity. Heavens know I would not want to have my current employer read some of the thoughts I post here, but one would think that when one poses as some sort of an expert or at least someone, who can offer a perspective, you would be able to get at least some sense that they might know what they are talking about. Too often at this point, I saw/heard/read things explained very confidently and yet missing the mark quite a bit.
      - f1shy 2y ago
        What you mean is “show me your credentials” or “show me the source of authority” I think is one of the first things I try to determine when somebody talks to me, when I see a blog, a video, or a comment in HN.
    - NotAnOtter 2y ago
      Agree a piece of informative media - in theory - should be taken on it's own merits alone. But to live in that world we would need to forgo the ability to make informed assumptions about how well thought out the media itself is. That's why research papers are intended to be read as though you don't know the author - it's purely data based & logical, any calls to background knowledge requires an explicit reference. That's just not practical in the real world.
    - darksaints 2y ago
      Pseudonyms are to opinions like incorporation is to businesses. It lets you take a risk without coming back to bite you personally. If you're right (or people like your opinions), you can gain a following with it. If you're wrong, you can always abandon your pseudonym. I don't necessarily think that's bad. I do it myself, by posting with usernames that are not directly attached to my own. But there is a certain amount of respect that I give to people that do things with their name attached. They take a risk that many in our society no longer do: they put their name and identity on the line with their opinions. Even public figures who are absolutely reprehensible in about every way possible get a tiny bit of respect from me for having their name attached to their shitty opinions.
    - 1832 2y ago
      >Then they write geopolitical analysis or whatever with enormous confidence, frequently calling out the experts in the field as idiots. Slightly OT, and of course only half anonymous but for example G.S. Bhogal really fits that bill. His posts come up here occasionally and I get a kick out of them but the real gold is in his twitter (1) Don't listen to the haters and make sure to follow for quality life advice (like don't listen to politicians and journalists because they're all corrupt liars, or that "below average IQ" people should reproduce as to not spread their genes, and the really smart people don't need friends or go outside, what they need a "circle" of other highly intelligent people like themselves on X (1) https://x.com/G_S_Bhogal https://x.com/G_S_Bhogal
  - f1shy 2y ago
    > best predictor of human behavior is still what they have done in the past I do not agree. I’m not sure in which context you are saying that. But that implies people never change, never learn, never get better. Specially that phrase is used in HR, what is terrible. There are traits that are hard to change, and things that hardly change, as there are lots of things that do change. That all being said, I’m totally with you, that the question has to be asked, but not to put the people in a box and never move them. Just to have a reference point in a changing curve.
    - iugtmkbdfil834 2y ago
      << I do not agree. Ok. I accept that you do not accept my personal opinion. << I’m not sure in which context you are saying that. There are multiple reasons, but speaking from perspective of crime statistics ( and I don't even mean in US, where once you are in the system, it is actively working to keep you in its grasp ), recidivism[1] is common even among prisoners, where the system actively tries to rehabilitate you[2]. I don't want to belabor that point too much though as people tend to take it as a political stance ( and it is not ). That said, those do translate to other less extreme forms of behavior. << But that implies people never change, never learn, never get better. No, it is a common misconception. Going from the original recidivism claim, the rate of recidivism is not 100%, but it is high enough that it gives people pause[2]. In other words, never is never the right or accurate claim here. I can start with more likely yes than not and take it from there if it makes you more comfortable to quibble over details. << Specially that phrase is used in HR, what is terrible. HR is terrible. No disagreement. I have no control over HR or their phraseology. << There are traits that are hard to change, and things that hardly change, as there are lots of things that do change. You may be confusing things a little, but maybe I am misunderstanding your point. Do you want to elaborate? << but not to put the people in a box and never move them. Yes. I accept the concern about being labeled even though you did not voice it. That said, the box remains a box. No amount of language will change its boxy nature. Things just are. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recidivism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recidivism [2]https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/recidivism-rates-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/recidivis...
paulpauper 2y ago
he is gonna get a ton of applicants and be overwhelmed trying to choose winners. This is why charging a fee is useful because you weed out those who are not committed, and also to compensate him for his time.
- charlie0 2y ago
  Not sure why you are being downvoted when you're absolutely correct. Free resources are usually over taxed and the best way to weed out the uncommitted is to add a cost.
realjohng 2y ago
It’s a wonderful and generous idea. We do need more person to person, non commercialized connections. I’ve applied, thx.
- moralestapia 2y ago
  Suggestion for @dang, a montlhy "who wants to hang out?" thread. Although, I can see how it could enshittify quickly with recruiters and whatnot.
  - dang 2y ago
    See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42640309 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42640309 - there's some effort going on around that, and I wouldn't rule out building something into HN (edit: though it looks like you already have it in your profile!)
- Mainsail 2y ago
  I’ve always valued the mentor / mentee process and have gone out of my way to help a couple of students from my former university. The problem is, I’ve struggled to find a mentor that isn’t currently at my company. Not looking for a job or even network building - I love my job, simply looking for someone to chat with about issues and career development as someone only a few years into their career as a SWE. Most of the recommendations I receive are sites where the individual has a large list of mentees and cost hundreds of dollars. Are there better ways to go about this?
bilsbie 2y ago
We really do need more of this kind of stuff. Really cool. I’d apply but video calls feel yuck for me. I also like time idea of a cross mentorship. Two people mentor each other.
- charlie0 2y ago
  That's not mentorship though, that's just the blind leading the blind. Mentorship implies by default one party has asymmetrical knowledge over the other one. That's how the mentee levels up. I do agree that partnering up with someone is better than going it alone, but if you're both at the same level, progress won't be as substantial as with a true mentor.
  - wizzwizz4 2y ago
    Knowledgeableness is not linearly-ordered. A Python 3 expert can mentor a Pythonidae expert, and vice versa.
ceva 2y ago
Few months after, it will be 200$ a month :)
- falcor84 2y ago
  Why not? If they can use the free offering to assess the benefit and gain additional experience, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't then charge for expanding the service.
gfiorav 2y ago
Mentoring requires a significant amount of effort when done effectively. I find it hard to believe that anyone would willingly offer to mentor in such a broad manner. It makes me quite suspicious that the author has a genuine understanding of what mentoring entails. In my opinion, mentoring has become a trend and a status symbol. The current definition of mentoring does not genuinely benefit anyone except the egos of those offering it. To be honest, this entire post reeks of that.
- metalliqaz 2y ago
  > To be honest, this entire post reeks of that. I could definitely be out of the loop but I've never heard of the linked blog/newsletter, and there is no explanation of who it is, so the whole thing gives me a feeling of "uhm, why would I do that?"
  - Ancapistani 2y ago
    I don't know anything about the author themselves, but the site is one third from the top of my pinned tabs in Arc, on my "not being directly productive" space. They write good quality, thought-provoking content that I enjoy.
- bradfa 2y ago
  The author is offering 1.5 hours of meetings, as three 30 minute conversations. It's not nothing, but it's also probably not really the level of mentoring that can be super impactful. But it might make a difference to some people who apply. I've had one amazing career-related mentor in my life. He probably spent 20+ hours per week for 6 months doing mentoring things for me. He worked VERY hard at this but his work was very impactful on me and I really appreciated it. He had support of his management, which was critical to being able to spend that much time on mentoring. I've tried to be a mentor for Google Summer of Code before. It was difficult for me and required a LOT more effort and time than I had expected. Mentoring well is not easy.
  - gfiorav 2y ago
    Mentoring isn’t just about time; it’s a mental investment. The few people I mentor often come to mind frequently. I reflect on our conversations, even though the actual time spent talking is minimal. I take it very seriously and genuinely feel their progress as my own. I don’t think I could mentor even 10 people without failing. You have to genuinely care about their progress. Perhaps the author means coaching. That’s scalable. Teach people how to do something you’ve successfully done repeatedly. That’s something I could do even for groups.
bravura 2y ago
Aside: I agree there is not enough mentorship, and I think a network/app for this would be amazing. It would be great if: a) it used LLMs to do partial AI match making b) it had a relatively decent solution to avoiding mentors getting spammed by mentees (using existing trust networks is good except it disadvantages outsiders who deserve mentorship most) c) it hooked into existing chat platforms so it's sticky without needing to visit the site EDIT: I'm down to mentor on ML/AI and have in the past, for the right candidates. It's hard to put my finger on what qualities I'm looking for.
- Kerrick 2y ago
  At least one exists -- https://adplist.org https://adplist.org
joeldg 2y ago
[dead]
napolux 2y ago
lovely. i'll copy this.
georgeecollins 2y ago
Maybe this is a really dumb question, but who is this? The whole post seems to assume I would know who the person is and unfortunately I don't. So for dummies like me: Who is this?
- gkoberger 2y ago
  Copied from here by screye: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31815204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31815204 ---- As a reader, if I had to generalize; Dynomight is a SF-rationalist-substack-adjacent blogger with a good understanding of statistics. The 2 closest popular bloggers I associate him with are SSC and Gwern; both pretty popular on HN. I particularly loved his blogs on the homelessness[1] and drug[2] crisis in the US. He? digs deep, does the statistical due diligence and usually finds conclusions that richer-academics-media houses have yet to find. I have found his arguments to be in good faith and are generally unencumbered by the political repercussions of said findings.
  - georgeecollins 2y ago
    I guess he could mentor bloggers?
- riskyingo 2y ago
  That's too humble to assume it's a dumb question. If a title includes I, me, we, us, ... I am skipping.
- walterbell 2y ago
  > Who is this Clicking the domain name next to the story title returns a list of previous HN discussion of the author's articles, with 1000+ comments.
  - burkaman 2y ago
    Ironically one of the most popular ones is an article they wrote about why advice doesn't work: https://dynomight.substack.com/p/advice https://dynomight.substack.com/p/advice I guess maybe mentoring is different because the mentee is actively seeking out advice.
edoceo 2y ago
This is a sales pitch.
RobotToaster 2y ago
As opposed to mentoring in which you hinder them?

28 points by crescit_eundo 2y ago

There are a bunch of questions, and some answers to these questions too. But one question-answer pair is missing. I can only ask the question: who are you?

melvinmelih 2y ago
Someone else had the same question: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31815204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31815204
iugtmkbdfil834 2y ago
This is a question that is not asked often enough lately. For better or worse, best predictor of human behavior is still what they have done in the past...
- lordgrenville 2y ago
  So many anonymous writers on Substack who seem to take pride in giving zero biographical information. Then they write geopolitical analysis or whatever with enormous confidence, frequently calling out the experts in the field as idiots. I guess they'd argue that the author's identity shouldn't matter and that one should just judge the writing on its own merit. The problem is that we're drowning in information. AI makes its trivial to generate authoritative-looking nonsense. Evaluation is costly. So I prefer to read something which the author has associated with their own identity (which means there's a cost to lying), or has provided some credentials to prove why their opinion matters. Of course there are exceptions (Gwern comes to mind), but I'll only trust them if they're recommended by other writers I trust.
  - iugtmkbdfil834 2y ago
    I can accept some level of anonymity. Heavens know I would not want to have my current employer read some of the thoughts I post here, but one would think that when one poses as some sort of an expert or at least someone, who can offer a perspective, you would be able to get at least some sense that they might know what they are talking about. Too often at this point, I saw/heard/read things explained very confidently and yet missing the mark quite a bit.
    - f1shy 2y ago
      What you mean is “show me your credentials” or “show me the source of authority” I think is one of the first things I try to determine when somebody talks to me, when I see a blog, a video, or a comment in HN.
  - NotAnOtter 2y ago
    Agree a piece of informative media - in theory - should be taken on it's own merits alone. But to live in that world we would need to forgo the ability to make informed assumptions about how well thought out the media itself is. That's why research papers are intended to be read as though you don't know the author - it's purely data based & logical, any calls to background knowledge requires an explicit reference. That's just not practical in the real world.
  - darksaints 2y ago
    Pseudonyms are to opinions like incorporation is to businesses. It lets you take a risk without coming back to bite you personally. If you're right (or people like your opinions), you can gain a following with it. If you're wrong, you can always abandon your pseudonym. I don't necessarily think that's bad. I do it myself, by posting with usernames that are not directly attached to my own. But there is a certain amount of respect that I give to people that do things with their name attached. They take a risk that many in our society no longer do: they put their name and identity on the line with their opinions. Even public figures who are absolutely reprehensible in about every way possible get a tiny bit of respect from me for having their name attached to their shitty opinions.
  - 1832 2y ago
    >Then they write geopolitical analysis or whatever with enormous confidence, frequently calling out the experts in the field as idiots. Slightly OT, and of course only half anonymous but for example G.S. Bhogal really fits that bill. His posts come up here occasionally and I get a kick out of them but the real gold is in his twitter (1) Don't listen to the haters and make sure to follow for quality life advice (like don't listen to politicians and journalists because they're all corrupt liars, or that "below average IQ" people should reproduce as to not spread their genes, and the really smart people don't need friends or go outside, what they need a "circle" of other highly intelligent people like themselves on X (1) https://x.com/G_S_Bhogal https://x.com/G_S_Bhogal
- f1shy 2y ago
  > best predictor of human behavior is still what they have done in the past I do not agree. I’m not sure in which context you are saying that. But that implies people never change, never learn, never get better. Specially that phrase is used in HR, what is terrible. There are traits that are hard to change, and things that hardly change, as there are lots of things that do change. That all being said, I’m totally with you, that the question has to be asked, but not to put the people in a box and never move them. Just to have a reference point in a changing curve.
  - iugtmkbdfil834 2y ago
    << I do not agree. Ok. I accept that you do not accept my personal opinion. << I’m not sure in which context you are saying that. There are multiple reasons, but speaking from perspective of crime statistics ( and I don't even mean in US, where once you are in the system, it is actively working to keep you in its grasp ), recidivism[1] is common even among prisoners, where the system actively tries to rehabilitate you[2]. I don't want to belabor that point too much though as people tend to take it as a political stance ( and it is not ). That said, those do translate to other less extreme forms of behavior. << But that implies people never change, never learn, never get better. No, it is a common misconception. Going from the original recidivism claim, the rate of recidivism is not 100%, but it is high enough that it gives people pause[2]. In other words, never is never the right or accurate claim here. I can start with more likely yes than not and take it from there if it makes you more comfortable to quibble over details. << Specially that phrase is used in HR, what is terrible. HR is terrible. No disagreement. I have no control over HR or their phraseology. << There are traits that are hard to change, and things that hardly change, as there are lots of things that do change. You may be confusing things a little, but maybe I am misunderstanding your point. Do you want to elaborate? << but not to put the people in a box and never move them. Yes. I accept the concern about being labeled even though you did not voice it. That said, the box remains a box. No amount of language will change its boxy nature. Things just are. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recidivism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recidivism [2]https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/recidivism-rates-by-country https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/recidivis...

paulpauper 2y ago

he is gonna get a ton of applicants and be overwhelmed trying to choose winners. This is why charging a fee is useful because you weed out those who are not committed, and also to compensate him for his time.

charlie0 2y ago
Not sure why you are being downvoted when you're absolutely correct. Free resources are usually over taxed and the best way to weed out the uncommitted is to add a cost.

realjohng 2y ago

It’s a wonderful and generous idea. We do need more person to person, non commercialized connections. I’ve applied, thx.

moralestapia 2y ago
Suggestion for @dang, a montlhy "who wants to hang out?" thread. Although, I can see how it could enshittify quickly with recruiters and whatnot.
- dang 2y ago
  See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42640309 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42640309 - there's some effort going on around that, and I wouldn't rule out building something into HN (edit: though it looks like you already have it in your profile!)
Mainsail 2y ago
I’ve always valued the mentor / mentee process and have gone out of my way to help a couple of students from my former university. The problem is, I’ve struggled to find a mentor that isn’t currently at my company. Not looking for a job or even network building - I love my job, simply looking for someone to chat with about issues and career development as someone only a few years into their career as a SWE. Most of the recommendations I receive are sites where the individual has a large list of mentees and cost hundreds of dollars. Are there better ways to go about this?

bilsbie 2y ago

We really do need more of this kind of stuff. Really cool. I’d apply but video calls feel yuck for me. I also like time idea of a cross mentorship. Two people mentor each other.

charlie0 2y ago
That's not mentorship though, that's just the blind leading the blind. Mentorship implies by default one party has asymmetrical knowledge over the other one. That's how the mentee levels up. I do agree that partnering up with someone is better than going it alone, but if you're both at the same level, progress won't be as substantial as with a true mentor.
- wizzwizz4 2y ago
  Knowledgeableness is not linearly-ordered. A Python 3 expert can mentor a Pythonidae expert, and vice versa.

ceva 2y ago

Few months after, it will be 200$ a month :)

falcor84 2y ago
Why not? If they can use the free offering to assess the benefit and gain additional experience, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't then charge for expanding the service.

gfiorav 2y ago

Mentoring requires a significant amount of effort when done effectively. I find it hard to believe that anyone would willingly offer to mentor in such a broad manner. It makes me quite suspicious that the author has a genuine understanding of what mentoring entails. In my opinion, mentoring has become a trend and a status symbol. The current definition of mentoring does not genuinely benefit anyone except the egos of those offering it. To be honest, this entire post reeks of that.

metalliqaz 2y ago
> To be honest, this entire post reeks of that. I could definitely be out of the loop but I've never heard of the linked blog/newsletter, and there is no explanation of who it is, so the whole thing gives me a feeling of "uhm, why would I do that?"
- Ancapistani 2y ago
  I don't know anything about the author themselves, but the site is one third from the top of my pinned tabs in Arc, on my "not being directly productive" space. They write good quality, thought-provoking content that I enjoy.
bradfa 2y ago
The author is offering 1.5 hours of meetings, as three 30 minute conversations. It's not nothing, but it's also probably not really the level of mentoring that can be super impactful. But it might make a difference to some people who apply. I've had one amazing career-related mentor in my life. He probably spent 20+ hours per week for 6 months doing mentoring things for me. He worked VERY hard at this but his work was very impactful on me and I really appreciated it. He had support of his management, which was critical to being able to spend that much time on mentoring. I've tried to be a mentor for Google Summer of Code before. It was difficult for me and required a LOT more effort and time than I had expected. Mentoring well is not easy.
- gfiorav 2y ago
  Mentoring isn’t just about time; it’s a mental investment. The few people I mentor often come to mind frequently. I reflect on our conversations, even though the actual time spent talking is minimal. I take it very seriously and genuinely feel their progress as my own. I don’t think I could mentor even 10 people without failing. You have to genuinely care about their progress. Perhaps the author means coaching. That’s scalable. Teach people how to do something you’ve successfully done repeatedly. That’s something I could do even for groups.

bravura 2y ago

Aside: I agree there is not enough mentorship, and I think a network/app for this would be amazing. It would be great if: a) it used LLMs to do partial AI match making b) it had a relatively decent solution to avoiding mentors getting spammed by mentees (using existing trust networks is good except it disadvantages outsiders who deserve mentorship most) c) it hooked into existing chat platforms so it's sticky without needing to visit the site EDIT: I'm down to mentor on ML/AI and have in the past, for the right candidates. It's hard to put my finger on what qualities I'm looking for.

Kerrick 2y ago
At least one exists -- https://adplist.org https://adplist.org

joeldg 2y ago

[dead]

napolux 2y ago

lovely. i'll copy this.

georgeecollins 2y ago

Maybe this is a really dumb question, but who is this? The whole post seems to assume I would know who the person is and unfortunately I don't. So for dummies like me: Who is this?

gkoberger 2y ago
Copied from here by screye: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31815204 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31815204 ---- As a reader, if I had to generalize; Dynomight is a SF-rationalist-substack-adjacent blogger with a good understanding of statistics. The 2 closest popular bloggers I associate him with are SSC and Gwern; both pretty popular on HN. I particularly loved his blogs on the homelessness[1] and drug[2] crisis in the US. He? digs deep, does the statistical due diligence and usually finds conclusions that richer-academics-media houses have yet to find. I have found his arguments to be in good faith and are generally unencumbered by the political repercussions of said findings.
- georgeecollins 2y ago
  I guess he could mentor bloggers?
riskyingo 2y ago
That's too humble to assume it's a dumb question. If a title includes I, me, we, us, ... I am skipping.
walterbell 2y ago
> Who is this Clicking the domain name next to the story title returns a list of previous HN discussion of the author's articles, with 1000+ comments.
- burkaman 2y ago
  Ironically one of the most popular ones is an article they wrote about why advice doesn't work: https://dynomight.substack.com/p/advice https://dynomight.substack.com/p/advice I guess maybe mentoring is different because the mentee is actively seeking out advice.

edoceo 2y ago

This is a sales pitch.

RobotToaster 2y ago

As opposed to mentoring in which you hinder them?