Mentoring

It's probably the hardest part of my job. Not because I don't like it or it's a pain, but because it's that fine art form of giving someone enough rope but not enough to hang themselves. And because I'm a demanding perfectionist but that's beside the point. The thing is, I've made it to this point in my career because I had some amazing mentors, some I even still call friends. People that had patience with me as I fumbled through learning new technologies, spoke my mind a little too often and learned who I was along the way. They guided me about what to think about, how to approach projects and people, traps I'd fall into, traps I'd set for others and how to explain things I found very simple but not everyone did. I'm direct, somedays to a fault. Which is my biggest obstacle when I mentor someone. Because the first words out of my mouth are usually "You fucked up now go fix it." But if I had heard that all the times I deserved it, I'd never have gotten out of my first post college job. I had someone there to guide me, sometimes gentler than others, into learning from my mistakes. Because for all the times I've ever done something right, it's the times when I screw up the most that I learn the most. I actually have an amazing group of people working for me and better yet, I have an amazing boss. I have the opportunity to mentor them as they are entering new roles that are huge steps up for them. I also have the opportunity to mentor someone who is just out of college and is learning all the same things I had to learn. I learn from them and I hope they are learning from me. At the end of the day, I like to think I gave them everything I had for them to be successful.