I've always been intrigued by the idea of having mentors, whether it's for professional or personal purposes, research projects, start-ups, etc., but never dared to put it into action.<p>I've had some success getting one-off advice from some very generous people, but it seems that any sort of longer-term mentorship only exist if one were formally obligated in some way (e.g., start-up investors, research advisors/committee, paid coaches).<p>Have any of you had success finding mentors? How did you go about it? Any tips, advice, suggestions, warnings?
The best tip I've followed is "When the student is ready, the master will come".<p>Mentors are abundant. Most people out there can teach something and are learning something. Like dating, most of those people are not the right fit. And yet there's so many that you're likely to have a few in your life without trying to find one, but searching helps. There's always a level above you but often that level is invisible to you if you don't qualify.<p>You need skill in that the student can absorb the mentor's lessons. If you're too far below the skill level, the mentor looks like an idiot. Their advice can run contrast to "common wisdom". 90% of people are in the bottom 90%. You have to be at a high enough level that you can see the flaws in common advice.<p>You have to be open to be proven wrong. The philosopher al-Ghazali used to say that you have all the advice you need. Why aren't you following it? Why does the advice taste bitter? To many people, knowledge is something you use to get something - work, promotions, recognition, validation. But that makes it difficult to learn. Knowledge is a tool to be used. If you're not using it, chances are you fear disproving what you know.<p>Now a lot of potential mentors are <i>happy</i> to teach. Partly because it's lonely. They want someone who understands them, and there's an ego boost to impressing someone. They want to bounce ideas off someone on the path, especially younger people who often see things from a different perspective. And sometimes there's a pragmatic use of an apprenticeship. One of my favorite mentor-apprentice relationships was reverse engineering a game, where the apprentice found me tons of data and I taught him how to process it.<p>But I'd still say the simplest route is improving yourself. Apply all of the advice you've been given, until you know what works and what doesn't. Which would often make the right mentor visible and attract their attention.
Yes, many.<p>Here is the best way to get mentorship.<p>1. Identify someone who already has something that you want.<p>2. Figure out what <i>they</i> most want to accomplish next.<p>3. Do whatever it takes to help them accomplish their next goal.<p>Note:
Do not ask to be paid.
Do not ask for anything in return.
Do not even ask them to “mentor you”.<p>By virtue of helping them
Accomplish their next goal,
You will aquire the mindset and knowledge you need to accomplish your goal, it happens almost as if by magic.<p>No one teaches this, and it’s proven to be the single greatest way to get a mentor that I have found.
Find a way to meet with them regularly.<p>The problem with one off advice is that it’s really hard to get context.<p>The best mentors will have context on you, you want them to be all up in your business.
Used websites like:<p><a href="https://findamentor.com/" rel="nofollow">https://findamentor.com/</a><p>Find one that is a good fit for you. Don't just contact people randomly find one willing to mentor you.
I'd suggest OP try the slatestarcodex sub-reddit, it's a community which seems to enjoy talking about topics in-depth which has a different focus from Hacker News.