Why Mentorship is Important for Higher Goal?

Two people behind macbook

Every­one has the poten­tial to make an impres­sion in the IT indus­try and achieve great­ness. The pio­neers of inno­v­a­tive fron­tiers began as entry-lev­el IT pro­fes­sion­als, and like every new­com­er, they had guid­ance. Men­tor­ship involves a con­struc­tive influ­ence, pro­vid­ing assis­tance, career coun­sel­ing, and being a source of inspi­ra­tion to new­bies in your area of exper­tise. The tech indus­try is broad, and with var­i­ous jobs avail­able, mak­ing a sol­id deci­sion is eas­i­er said than done. In addi­tion, in spe­cif­ic nich­es, for exam­ple, a junior devel­op­er may be stuck at debug­ging their codes. A data sci­en­tist seek­ing to switch roles may need career coach­ing from senior soft­ware devel­op­ers on new lan­guages to learn.

Men­tor­ship is long-term and a key area in tech. Hav­ing a men­tor is key to career devel­op­ment, and it makes achiev­ing your goals easier.

The need for mentorship for IT professionals

You might have got­ten all the cer­ti­fi­ca­tions nec­es­sary to thrive in your cho­sen field, and you work hard to gain pro­fi­cien­cy. Still, you are in a clog wheel, and your efforts are not cut­ting it. While your edu­ca­tion and exper­tise are the base lev­el of your career, some­times they are not just enough. More­over, it would help if you had that insight from some­one who has been down the path you desire. Choose estab­lished men­tors in the area you aspire to break into. There are var­ied rea­sons you would require the help of a men­tor, including:

Making career choices and defining goals

A men­tor­ship rela­tion­ship can assist you in pur­su­ing a career in tech­nol­o­gy, as men­tors can pro­vide diverse view­points on career paths. If you are con­sid­er­ing a career shift, a men­tor can help you deter­mine what train­ing or skills you would need. This career coach­ing pro­gram allows you to ask tough ques­tions from experts. Also, you get a much clos­er and per­son­al­ized access to their expe­ri­ences and wealth of wisdom. 

A men­tor can high­light mile­stones you need to set and the goals to achieve. It can be step-by-step guid­ance on com­plet­ing a course or the path to becom­ing a full-stack devel­op­er. You may con­sid­er being a prod­uct man­ag­er after being a devel­op­er. But then, would that be a good career deci­sion? A men­tor who is an expert in prod­uct man­age­ment would explain the life of a prod­uct man­ag­er to you and the skills to excel in it.

Technology is fast-paced

The tech world remains a com­plex field that is dif­fi­cult to thrive in, so most IT pro­fes­sion­als pick a niche and spe­cial­ize in it. Pro­fes­sion­als in the IT field like Web Devel­op­ers, UX Design­er, Soft­ware Devel­op­er, Back­end Devel­op­er, Full-stack devel­op­ers (includ­ing both Web and Back­end and Data­base), Data Sci­en­tist, Cloud Engi­neer, DevOps, Sys­tem Ana­lyst, Net­work Engi­neer, IT Secu­ri­ty Spe­cial­ist, etc. are expe­ri­enc­ing an explod­ing industry.

Tech­nol­o­gy is advanc­ing at a break­neck pace, requir­ing key changes and role shift­ing. Exam­ples like Angu­lar­JS updat­ing to Angu­lar v2 and React sweep­ing through the web dev com­mu­ni­ty after its launch. These show that keep­ing up with trends is a daunt­ing chal­lenge. The need to stay updat­ed or get phased out is with­out prej­u­dice to var­i­ous aspects of the tech indus­try. The tech space is fre­quent­ly updat­ing with new prac­tices. Hav­ing men­tors walk you through the rel­e­vant train­ing and skills is key to mak­ing a good career in IT. In addi­tion, they can also pre­dict where prob­lems will like­ly arise and show you how to deal with them.

Mentorship offers accountability 

Two people sharing a laptop and talking

Men­tors can hold you respon­si­ble for your goals and push you to achieve your cur­rent objec­tives and attain high­er goals. In data analy­sis, for instance, the start­ing point is Microsoft Excel. How­ev­er, Microsoft Pow­er BI offers extend­ed pos­si­bil­i­ties over Excel. Men­tors offer per­son­al­ized atten­tion, which involves mon­i­tor­ing your progress and requir­ing you to give reports on your career progress. A sur­vey involv­ing edu­ca­tors report­ed that 95% of them not­ed their stu­dents ben­e­fit­ted from men­tor­ing. Also, about 83% said it helped their stu­dents learn skills that con­tributed to their success.

Mentors are your strongest networks

At cer­tain points in your tech career, you may become strand­ed, stuck in a posi­tion and seek­ing to get into a big­ger role. It is all right to run into a few prob­lems and this is where a men­tor comes in. They would act as net­work exten­sions, bring­ing togeth­er peo­ple who may nev­er have met before. In addi­tion they can help open doors for new oppor­tu­ni­ties. Impor­tant­ly, a men­tor is a career builder, tak­ing you from entry lev­el roles to being a senior IT pro­fes­sion­al. Besides, based on their rela­tion­ship with you, they can rec­om­mend you for roles in big­ger orga­ni­za­tions since they are con­fi­dent of your strengths and expertise.

Choosing a mentor

The choice of a men­tor can be a career-defin­ing point for you. Choose a men­tor who is an expert in the field you want to break into and also devel­op a good chem­istry. Be will­ing to accept con­struc­tive crit­i­cisms from your men­tor and be flex­i­ble to change. The right men­tor is a life­long asset, and the wrong one is a waste of time for both parties.

Over­all, men­tors are a price­less resource for you while you pur­sue a career in tech. Indeed, they assist you in deter­min­ing the ide­al fit for your skills and to meet your goals and objec­tives. Enroll in our Elite Careers’ Pro­fes­sion­al Suc­cess Pro­gram. Our exec­u­tive coach­ing ser­vices is a per­son­al­ized career men­tor­ship pro­gram that takes you from the entry lev­el to the zenith of your career. Let us hear from you.

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