Mentorship and Self-Mentorship in Web Development

Riku and I discussed the value of mentorship and how receiving mentorship in our lives have shaped our view in helping others succeed. In the research lab were she works, she has mentored many undergraduate students in their research, experiments and careers. In the two fields I've worked in (research and hospital administration), I've mentored—even though I did not feel ready to mentor—and received mentorship when I felt stuck and needed guidance.

Mentorship is about fostering relationships you like and helping those you like. There's also self-mentoring when you've got no mentors in sight or you need to supplement your mentors with self-mentoring. Despite mentorship being invaluable during any career transition, I've come to learn that self-mentoring is equally important as mentorship, and a lack of mentors should not be an indication to give up on anything.

In this post:

• Adam Grant on Givers, Matchers and Takers
• Mentorship
• Self-Mentorship
• Conclusion

Adam Grant on Givers, Matchers and Takers

Adam Grant, an organizational psychologist, researched the types of people's values in the workplace:

• givers
• matcher
• takers

See his TED Talk here. Although his research focuses on the workplace, there is something to be said about what values mentors have (usually givers!).

Mentorship

Mentorship is all about helping others succeed. Using Adam Grant's definitions, mentors are the givers who are helpful and elevate others up with no care in the other's status.

During this career transition, I have had several types of mentors. Here are a few tips to keep in mind while actively looking for a mentor:

1. Mentors can be one-off mentors/short-term. - The one-off/short-term mentors are with you for a short period of time. It can be that they meet you for an informational interview (in other words, coffee meeting), and liked you enough through interacting with you via e-mail to meet with you. Their insights can be invaluable and guide your next steps when you have no mentors. The more interviews you conduct, the more educated decisions you can make in your career transition.
2. Mentors can be long-term. - The long-term mentor is there with you throughout your life and career no matter the proximity of location. You have full confidence that no matter what career inflection point you're at, your long-term mentor will impart the wisdom that she has to help inform your decisions. If a mentor works in the same organization as you, your mentor becomes your advocate or helps you find advocates.
3. Good mentors have mentors, and bad mentors never have mentors. - Finding a good mentor is tough, but the search is worthwhile. One of my good mentors is mentored by many mentors who inform his decisions in his career in web development. As a side effect, my mentor passes on his good mentorship and good will to me. In the future, my mentees will receive good mentorship and good will from me, thereby, creating a mentorship family/lineage. In the opposite vein, bad mentors never have mentors may be a bold claim, but it seems they are far more interested in self-interest than helping others. I can say that I've e-mailed many people for guidance and mentorship, but have mostly dealt with silence. These potential mentors use silence as a way to protect themselves from overcommitting (i.e. answering e-mails, being a mentor, etc.).

Self-Mentorship

After I reached out to web developers, who did not know me, for an informational interview and I had yet to find a mentor, I had to self-mentor myself by remembering my why during this career transition. It's important to remember self-kindness during this journey.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind on self-mentorship:

1. This is your choice and your life. - A career transition is like any other choice you make it life. The hardest part is getting over the naysayers and the external expectations of others. What the naysayers and others forget is that they are not living your life, so why are they judging? Life is hard enough as it is, but we have a choice in our own lives. The choice to make a career transition is yours and yours alone, and that is just part of the journey.
2. Self-kindness helps you stay motivated. - A good friend once told me that every 1 negative experience requires 3-5 positive experiences to balance the negative. During this career transition, it is very easy to fall into a rabbit hole and see and feel all the negative. The most important thing you can do for yourself is be kind to yourself as if you were kind to a friend going through the same career change.
3. Mentoring yourself is like mentoring a friend. - See above about kindness.

Conclusion

Mentorship and self-mentorship can occur separately or simultaneously. If you lack one, find the other. Often times though, it'll be easier to self-mentor yourself and coach yourself through this career transition.

More often than not, you'll find a lot of takers who benefit in their career, but not enough givers who impart their knowledge about the field of web development. That's okay, because there are many resources on the web that help you self-mentor and get better at your craft. There are many, big web development communities, and, surely, you'll find that tribe during your career transition into web development.

Also, check out Prototypr’s article “How to Find a UX Mentor (Step 1: Don’t Ask Someone to Be Your Mentor)”, which has a great way of approaching mentorship.