Ask HN: What should I buy a "mentor" for a gift?

5 points·brianmcdonough··8 comments

I want to buy a gift for a programmer who advised me as I learned rails and built www.lumeo.com over the past six months. It's kind of crazy, looking back now and the way things are going, and I want to show my appreciation. What would be a good gift?

View on HN

Does he have a lot of little knick-knacks in his workspace? If so, you could get some sort of geeky toy, like a usb rocket launcher. If not, get something edible so he doesn't have another thing sitting around.

I've never met him and never skyped with him so I'm not sure, but that's a good, useful suggestion, the usb rocket launcher.

Thanks for the great suggestions. After some searching, I went with an indoor outdoor remote controlled helicopter and the message, "thanks for helping get Lumeo off the ground."

It depends on your budget. Something like a good quality pen or a book wont hurt. But for book you have to ask him for his taste though.

Perhaps some variant of a buckling spring / clicky / mechanical switched keyboard? It's a lifetime-lasting gift.

I like this. I don't know a programmer that wouldn't appreciate a high quality keyboard, mouse, mousepad, chair, desk, monitor, speakers, headphones.

But..it can be tricky since people are so opinionated about these things.

Ones that already have the ideal setup are usually not looking for a replacement. It ideally would be something he would like but doesn't already have.

These type of things are only good if what he got needs replacing or there is a better product he's hesitant to upgrade to.

This sounds really good. I'll look it up.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com