How To Build a Mentor Network as a Software Engineer

It all starts with you.

Israel Miles
Level Up Coding
Published in
7 min readMay 12, 2021

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Technology is evolving at an exponential rate across the world. The number of transistors that fit into a microprocessor was 10,000 in 1971 — in 2017 the number was more than 10 billion. This is known as Moore’s Law, which can be synonymous to the vast growth that technology sees on a daily basis. Today’s software engineers are left with no other option than to make learning a daily practice in the industry. But with so much to learn, how can you know where to start?

That’s where a mentor comes in.

Whether you’ve been in the tech space for years or are just now learning what a function is, a mentor can accelerate your learning path by orders of magnitude. Most people already have some form of guidance through a school teacher or their boss, but nothing beats having someone who is dedicated to seeing you as an individual succeed.

In fact, decades of research have shown that people who are involved in mentorship programs have endless benefits. They include higher pay, more career opportunities, increased job happiness, and mentees often become mentors themselves. It’s a positive feedback loop that strengthens individuals and companies alike.

The good news is that most people in the tech space understand how difficult it can be to plan for the future when everything around you is constantly changing. The majority of software engineers are happy to offer advice or be a mentor themselves — just look at how much quality content is shared on the internet every day!

So how can you find yourself a mentor dedicated to your growth and success? Well, it all starts with you. First and foremost, you have to make yourself ready to be mentored. That’s the hard part, the easy part is reaching out to your network or even making some cold calls to find someone who will foster your newfound curiosity to learn. 🙂

And how do you make yourself ready to be mentored? Read on to find out!

How To Be a Great Mentee

Before you start reaching out to people to mentor you, ask yourself — why do you really need a mentor? Are you wanting to find a new job, or to be promoted in your current role? Do you want to…

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Software Engineer at Audible. Remote Work Proponent and writer of anything that gets a rant out of me.