For my parents’ generation, mentorship was absolutely invaluable. Someone who had been there, done that, and could speak to exactly the challenges and opportunities of your industry, craft, or trade. These people helped you to mitigate risk and shortcut learning.
They were difficult to find. It took a lot of relationship building, phone calls, hand written letters…
The same is true today. However, now there are more options, and accessibility to mentors has never been easier.
At the end of the day, there are a couple functions of mentorship that I think can be decoupled in the age of technology:
1.) Technical knowledge and experience
2.) A mutually fulfilling relationship
Technical mentors are now in the cloud. With all the recorded content – books, audiobooks, podcasts, videos, and online courses – you can receive nearly the same or greater level of technical mentorship as your parents from someone you’ve never met.
There has never been a better reason to get something started.