Hacker News Reader

Comment by slmyers | Hacker News Reader

Call me a pessimist but I doubt the vast majority of people will ever find true mentorship. Would it be nice to have a more experienced and talented developer take a personal interest in your career and technical development? yes, of course it would, but it's unlikely at best. I'm sure self study, discipline and "grit" matter far more.

View on HN

>>I'm sure self study, discipline and "grit" matter far more.

Sure, but mentors help ensure that you learn the right lessons from your struggles, gain the correct habits and don't go down certain silly rabbit holes and waste time.

And they never will with that kind of attitude.

Personally, I was fortunate enough to have a mentor when I was starting out and it rocketed me to a strong position in my career and I couldn't be more grateful. I try to actively mentor 1 or 2 people a year as a result.

It's been mostly very successful so far.

What does it actually mean "to have a mentor" or "to mentor somebody"? What kind of activity is this? Because I constantly see people talking about it, but I've never seen a satisfactory explaination.

The dictionary does a pretty good job of defining it, though it omits something pretty important in practice. That is, to mentor is to advise or train someone.

The omission there is that there are, mostly, concrete goals that the mentee aims to achieve, and the mentor is personally invested in a successful outcome.

I think it matters more for most people, because they can't get a good mentor. I guess that having one of the top 1000 devs in the world as mentor does carry less risk for your career.

But more than 99% of us aren't that lucky and have to try with self study and "grit".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com