What mentoring actually is
Teaching gives someone information. Mentoring gives someone a witness — someone who watches them work, helps them get unstuck, and shows them what it looks like to keep going when things don’t immediately work.
The people I work with are not always beginners. Some are early in their careers. Some are changing directions. Some have been coding for years and still feel like they don’t belong. What they share is that they haven’t yet found their footing, and they’re not sure they can.
What the sessions look like
We meet weekly or every other week. We talk about what they’re working on, what they’re stuck on, and what they want to understand better. Then we build something together.
Building together matters. It is different from watching a tutorial or reading documentation. When you work alongside someone, you see how they think — and you realize that uncertainty, iteration, and not knowing are not signs of doing it wrong. They are just how it works.
What it keeps teaching me
These conversations have made me a better engineer. You get precise at explaining when someone deserves a real answer. You learn what actually matters to understand early, and what complexity can wait.
Mentorship is also a form of leverage. Time spent with someone while they’re still deciding whether this field is for them can change what they choose to do for years.