[formercoder]

I don’t know that I agree. Mentorship is very important at the early stages of a career and I definitely missed out on it personally joining a small company out of college. Not sure exactly what OPs resume looks like but if it’s enough for him to transition to a mid size tech company that would have more structure around engineering, I would imagine that would be a fruitful move from both financial and educational perspectives.

[baby]

I see mentorship as an excellent shortcut to self-improvement, as it is a good way to quickly get quality feedback. But finding people that you can model works as well. I've personally learned a lot just looking at how other peers approached problems. If you work in an environment where there is no true role model, you often end up becoming the role model yourself, as you decide on what is important or not. At this point, the internet is your community, and if you work with your office's door closed, you might dig yourself into a hole.

[formercoder]

Very true. I went to a large tech company after the small one in search of that. Unfortunately I didn’t see anyone in roles potentially ahead of mine where I’d look at their job and think “that’s what I want to work towards.” Now I have found that in my current role and I’m settling in for the long run to get there.

[baby]

> I didn’t see anyone in roles potentially ahead of mine where I’d look at their job and think [...]

That's interesting, it might mean that you're doing a really good job.

[formercoder]

Don’t think I follow?

[fenici]

Exactly the point of my post - OP doesn't have a mentor so he reached out to HN. In this case we're his mentors. Consider my post in the context of me trying to provide advice as a mentor. I am not sure how this is interpreted as being anti-mentor.

[fenici]

Which part do you disagree with? I didn't say mentorship isn't important - it's very important. The point I am making is it's easy to think the solution to ones problems will be solved by some external thing or person. But a lot of improvement can be found from personal development. When I read the post I get the sense that OP is perhaps lacking in confidence, hence my post. I am trying to see though the literal words to the meaning behind them. Perhaps I am wrong but I don't see how we have a disagreement.