You Should Be A Mentor and This is Why!

A quick lightning talk on why being a mentor is rewarding for ones self. Justification of being a mentor other than "giving back".

Transcript

2. “If Only, I’d Known”. Lets think about this statement a bit. ”If Only I’d Known” is something that you can say in many stages of your life. You can say it 2 weeks into a Junior Position, “If Only, I’d known that 2 weeks ago!” Most people can admit to having these moments, raise your hand if you can recall doing this at least ONCE. Cool, so whether you like it or not, you just admitted to knowing something- 2
3. Go you! You know stuff! 3
4. Now, imagine. If you could save someone from saying- “I WISH I KNEW THAT 2 WEEKS AGO”. Good news is, that you totally can! 4
5. By becoming a mentor, one of the first things that you can improve is your impact. A lot of the time, little things make the biggest impact. Every person you interact with positively distributes impressions. Positive impressions on some people will ripple outward. If you help someone into tech, or with certain things, you make it possible for them to give back as well! It’s like having your own chunk of the community where you can say “HEY I DID THAT” 5
6. Right now, someone you mentor may not be in a position to help you immediately. Think of your mentees as investment. But not just in the next year. But in the next 10 years. A mentee will remember you. Your insight and input may not even have immediate impact. But an understanding ear, with context can make all the difference to stability. These give you a diverse network! They’ll become experts in tools you don’t know or that haven’t been created yet. People that know you’re reliable, and people that know them will learn your name. 6
7. So now you’ve got two things working in your favor. You’re creating a large impact. You’re also making connections. Suddenly your name and work have two more reasons to be brought up in conversation. This is important. People will see your impact, and your work with your mentees! When they ask how they got there, you’ll be apart of the reason! 7
8. Which leads me to Emotional Intelligence. This is important for numerous reasons. I could do an entire lightning talk on JUST emotional intelligence, but that’s for another time. Emotional Intelligence is important to being a leader. Dealing with individuals emotions empathetically and justly is an important part of being a well rounded leader! When you invest in a mentee, it includes investment into their thoughts and ideas about the industry. Its great practice for when you have your own team, or when you need to onboard Juniors and Interns! 8
9. Helping someone through the steps in their career, will help you to look back at the steps that you took to get to where you are. It may help you gain momentum and drive to set new goals! Goals that you may have had no idea you could have! Like giving lightning talks! 9
10. Careers aren’t always linear. Networks are great! But most don’t look the same. Be it, University Education, Community College, Bootcamps, or 2nd Career Individuals! All of these people provide unique perspective and solutions. For these reasons, it’s the communities responsibility to provide mentorship. Colleges and Universities offer a pay to play model. Underprivileged individuals struggle with this due to money strains. So if you can aid them in any way- mentoring is an especially helpful one. 10
11. If those very personal reasons don’t hit home for you, I’ve got one last point. That point is that there is a need for Mentors. There is always a need to share knowledge, especially internally. It ensures that after you are comfortable with something you can keep trying new stuff! 11