Ask HN: Did you find a company that provide a healthy environment to grow?
This is one of my problems with the tech industry. I can learn on my own, but I still need a mentor. Am I wrong about that?
- In one, mentorship was deemed important and was part of the requirements of being a "senior" (or higher) in the tech track. Here, the connection with a mentor was sort of a "free for all" and one has to find a mentor and come to an agreement for a "project" or "goal" and one works towards that goal/project with the mentor's guidance. After that, the goal of that mentorship relationship is considered attained and you (could) start over.
- In another, there was no noise about mentorship. However, the way the reporting structure and work on projects was organised, it led to a phenomenon where everyone was working with someone their senior and someone who would be their senior's senior. So, "mentorship" just happened all the time in your work. You didn't have to look for it. It was just the way things were done.
The former, I found pretentious and absolutely useless. In the latter, I learnt so much and to this day, I have preserved some notes of things I have learnt from working with some people who are now considered industry leaders.
My suggestion is to seek out companies for whom technology is what drives their business and who work that way too. I'd also look for companies who don't make a lot of noise about these things and just structure work in such a way that you are always working with those who are keeping an eye on your work (and I don't mean looking over your shoulder) and can keep helping you grow as a natural part of work instead of having to seek this out outside of your regular work.