2 posts tagged with "mentorship"

Developers are natural self-learners. We've mastered complex frameworks from documentation, debugged obscure issues with Stack Overflow, and built entire applications from tutorials. So when it comes to career development and personal growth, the question naturally arises: can we just coach ourselves?

After years of both self-directed learning and working with professional coaches and mentors, I've learned that the answer isn't simply yes or no. It's about understanding when each approach works best and how to maximize the effectiveness of both.

Let's break down the trade-offs like we would any technical decision: what are the constraints, what are we optimizing for, and what's the most effective path to our desired outcome?

You just spent three hours helping a junior developer understand why their API calls were failing. On the surface, it looks like time you could have spent fixing your own backlog. But here's what actually happened: you reinforced your own understanding of async programming, practiced explaining complex concepts clearly, and built a relationship that will pay dividends for years.

Welcome to mentoring in tech — where teaching others makes you better at your own job.