maybe you're responding to the wrong person? because i'm not even disagreeing with you on that. maybe they want both or neither, that's fine.
the person i'm responding to is framing mentoring as some kind must have from a "socialization" standpoint (which i disagreed with, but i get the practical aspect of it where if you don't have people train juniors there won't be seniors).
I mean "socialization" as in "being a positive part of and building a society worth living in"
if it's rewarding to you that's great, but don't frame it as something bigger than it is. i would hope we are all "being a positive part of and building a society worth living in" in our own way.
If you don't like or want to mentor the younger generation then you are actively sabotaging the future of society because those people are the future of society
Why do I care about the future of society? Because I still have to live in it for another few decades
maybe i like taking care of my friends kids, volunteering, or doing other things that contribute to the "future of society"? personally, i think mentoring junior devs is slightly lower on the priority list, but that's my opinion.
seriously, how arrogant of you to make assumptions about how others think about the future based on a tiny slice of your personal life lol.
That's great, that doesn't absolve you of your responsibility to also mentor juniors at work though
Those are different tasks in different worlds and they all need doing
if you've optimized every facet of your life to do all the "responsible things" society needs then feel free to throw the first stone. anything else is just posturing.
and just a small thing, it's ironic that you're so fixated on socialization for society’s sake while being so tunnel-visioned in defending your own definition of what that even means. i've given you plenty examples but it just doesn't fit the one you personally adhere to.