Ask HN: How do you pick a software mentor? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do you pick a software mentor?

4 pointsandreipop4 comments

As I've been building CodeRook (http://www.coderook.co) I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to evaluate software mentors. How do you (as a relative beginner) know when someone would make a good mentor? How do you evaluate this? Software development is a highly opinionated field, which I think can make this challenging. What do you look for?

Interested in general ideas/thoughts, as well as how you might do this on a service like CodeRook (we are thinking of using the StackOverflow API, but I think this might be limiting). Alternatively we could just ask people some questions and screen them, but I think there might be a better way.

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How about the mentor needs to describe in their own words why they would make a good mentor?

You might see I have no reputation on Stack Overflow, no code in Github, but I've been writing web code for 16 years. I might have a few things to teach someone, but you wouldn't know it from my online reputation scores in the usual places.

Even if someone was a coding rock-star, they might not make a good mentor just by that skill alone. Some of the best coders are quiet and anti-social, and trying to get information from them can be difficult. I'm not saying all are, or even a lot, but I've known some very smart people who struggle to answer "why did you do it this way?" in a way others can understand.

I'd have to say that software mentors are no different than any other kind of technical mentor. here are 5 things that I look for in a mentor: 1. Good communication skills. This includes knowing how to talk to their student using methods that work for each individual student. 2. Good technical knowledge (obviously) 3. Even more important than #2, being humble. I'd much rather here "I think this is how you do xyz, but I"m not 100% sure" than someone who says "THis is the only way to do this!" 4. Someone who is clear about the objectives 5. Someone who allows students to make mistakes (sometimes people only learn after they make mistakes)

Sometimes it's not about you picking someone. Sometimes it's about you gradually accepting someone as a mentor without even you realising it.This usually happens when the person is communicative, clicks along with you, encourages you to explore, and is kind enough to guide you to your growth in any way possible.

Once I was happy that someone had the technical knowledge I'd say I'd go with someone who is a good communicator - someone I click with. Perhaps I'd ask them to explain a concept to me.

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