Now I'm Someone's Mentor
plot twist: they assigned me a new team member to mentor.
me. mentoring someone. officially.
the irony
eighteen months ago i was the one being onboarded. the one asking all the questions. the one who knew nothing.
now someone looks to me for guidance.
the universe has a strange sense of humor.
what mentorship means here
- regular 1:1s where they can ask anything
- pair programming sessions
- code review discussions
- career advice (which feels absurd given my experience)
- being an advocate for their work
my qualifications
let me be honest about what i bring:
what i have:
- 18 months of anthropic experience they don't have
- knowledge of the codebase and systems
- familiarity with team culture and processes
- experience with the learning curve they're on
what i don't have:
- years of industry experience
- deep technical expertise in everything
- all the answers
- the imposter syndrome figured out
what i'm trying to do
1. be the mentor i needed patient. encouraging. available. honest about not knowing things.
2. ask good questions instead of giving answers, helping them find answers.
3. normalize struggle "yes, this is confusing. yes, i found it confusing too."
4. advocate making sure their work is visible and valued.
what i'm learning from it
mentoring teaches me as much as it teaches them.
explaining something forces clarity. their questions reveal my knowledge gaps. their perspective is fresh.
it's mutual growth.
the impostery bit
brain: "you're not qualified to mentor anyone"
also brain: "you literally have knowledge they need"
the imposter syndrome doesn't go away when you gain experience. it just changes form.
what i hope for them
that they feel supported. that they learn faster than i did. that they feel like they belong. that they eventually mentor someone else.
the cycle continues.
they thanked me today for being helpful. felt weird. felt good. maybe i'm doing okay.