[jdileo]

First, congratulations on being proactive in pursuit of scaling your career trajectory. I'm often amazed that an ecosystem that reveres best-practice and first principals has fostered belief that coaching is valuable only to those who inhabit c-suites or....wait for it....the latest Stanford startup backed by the illuminati of SV.

Securing a coach is both possible and critically important to career trajectory. Further, the FANG SVP that has climbed ladder without benefit of guidance and network such associations yield is rare indeed.

If desired I can make introduction to a couple of people that are well respected, lmk.

[drBonkers]

Chiming in— I’ve been interested in finding a mentor for awhile. Do you think a coach fills this role?

[__rito__]

Actually a mentor finds you.

Happened with me, I made it happen to others.

Remember two things:

One, a mentorship need not be a lifelong relationship. Mentorship relationship might exist for three months, ten years, or might be lifelong. Different mentors are needed for different phases in your career.

Two, keep meeting people, keep talking about stuff that you are genuinely interested about. Not only professional interests, but also cultural, social, personal, and (in some little number of apt places) political interests, as well. When a mentor picks you, it's because you are interesting to them. A mentor is a person, and not an advice-bot.

[jameal]

There certainly can be overlap in these roles. You can have a coach who at times provides mentorship and a mentor who at times provides coaching. It can be pretty fluid. To draw a hard line between them, you can think of a mentor as someone older/more experienced who can show you the way. A coach on the other hand is someone you engage in a creative partnership with, and they are there to help you discover the answers that are within you.

[picklerish]

I'm interested as well. (How does DMs work here?, first time commenting)

[lentil_soup]

There's no DMs in Hacker News, but you could add contact details on your profile so people can reach you

[Vibgyor5]

Very interested - how can I connect with you?