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Mentorship is the real unicorn in the tech industry. Everybody seeks it out; is convinced it exists, and many of us struggle to find it. We& #39;ve been ill-served by unrealistic images of what it looks like in the wild. Here are some forms of mentorship I& #39;ve benefited from: [1/11]
This piece @msquinn wrote years ago, after the death of Andy Grove, has been somewhat life-changing. "In this era of frequent, transparent public communication...anyone can act as a mentor. You just have to pay close attention. You have to observe" [2/11] https://medium.com/@msquinn/learning-by-observing-24af8f50ca24">https://medium.com/@msquinn/...
Knowing that to learn from someone, you don& #39;t need quarterly standing lunches with them, or even for them to know you was so novel to me. Asking for someone& #39;s time is hard, and sort of worse when they can& #39;t give it to you. My mentors don& #39;t know they& #39;re my mentors. [3/11]
"Stop waiting for a magical, accomplished older woman to take you under her Eileen Fisher–clad wing. Start looking to the people on your level." - what an underrated idea! This @annfriedman piece gave me so much solace when I moved industries. [4/11] https://www.thecut.com/2016/10/cant-find-a-mentor-look-to-your-peers.html">https://www.thecut.com/2016/10/c...
In the last few years, I& #39;ve learnt a ton from my peers. Not just when they/I succeeded, but also through making mistakes, in building community, in building trust. By calling me out when I& #39;ve slipped. And offering one space to learn from one& #39;s mistakes. [5/11]
Some of us learn to take support, to trust and accept help very late. It& #39;s such a privilege to have mentors who push you to be better and achieve those goals -- for me, they& #39;ve been great humans like @MaddieCallander @anutopiaa @nikitadoval and others not on Twitter. [6/11]
I call out men in the tech industry frequently BECAUSE the men I& #39;ve worked with have set such incredibly high standards. For eg, ~5 years ago @jengelberg took me under his wing and taught me so much. [7/11]
On my first day at FundersClub, he had a 2 year plan for what I had to learn to do. He taught me all about a new industry when I had to work remote for 6 months due to visa issues. He patiently took time to equip me with what I needed to succeed even beyond the day2day. [8/11]
Not a fan of public-brown nosing re bosses, but, each time I& #39;ve come away from a negotiation thinking I was too harsh, @TimDraper says to me: "you can& #39;t come across as weak." After a lifetime of trying to not be "abrasive", to be unconditionally supported is super fuel [9/11]
