On the Importance of Mentorship

---

Hi 👋, everyone, this is Kevin sharing another article from The Software Engineer Weekly. Every week I share insights into working as a software engineer and the lessons I’ve learned.

This week we crossed 4,000+ readers! 🎉

---

Mentorship can dramatically change the rate at which you advance in almost anything. Because of this, it’s essential to find mentors throughout life and at the variety of companies you’ll work at.

I was lucky enough to find my first mentor during college. He (who we’ll call E) was a year older than me and could grok concepts related to computer science much more quickly than myself. E was not only a computer science major, but also a math major and had a near-perfect GPA. He also worked out and had tons of friends. I painted this picture because of the tremendous impact it had on me. E helped me realize what was attainable as opposed to the standards that I held myself to at the time. While I wasn’t succeeding in the way I wanted to in my studies E’s ability to succeed forced me to painfully reevaluate the work I was putting in. I realized that I needed to work harder and dedicate more time to my studies if I wanted results close to that which he had earned. Thanks to this self-reflection I started studying more and spending several hours in the library each day. While this new work ethic did not get me anything close to a 4.0 GPA it was a monumental shift in the way I approach working toward any goal that I consider important. I’ll never forget one late night in the library where E and I sat together both trying to complete projects for our respective classes. I was attempting (and failing) at a data structures project and I’m not sure what exactly he was working on but it was probably for some kind of graduate class since he’d finished most of the curriculum for undergraduates. Around midnight E finished, packed up his things, and left. I on the other hand stayed and continued to struggle with my code, but smiled knowing that the things I’d learned from him were much more important than what this single assignment could teach me. To this day, I still chase E. He’s an incredibly successful engineer in the industry and is the youngest person I’ve ever heard of making Staff Engineer. I often tell myself that if I can accomplish half of what he does, I’ll be in a pretty good spot.

Much of the success I’ve found in life and my career thus far I credit to E and other mentors I’ve found along the way. As Isaac Newton said: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Find someone to chase, it’ll drastically change the way you run your race.

---