[geeks] How best to find a mentor?

[Mouse]

> Subject: Re: [geeks] How best to find a mentor?

I didn't get the original.  But....

[Nathan Raymond]
>> For most of my entire career, I've been managed by people less
>> technical than myself.

Not surprising.  There seems to be some kind of tradeoff; I've met very
few people who excel at both technical skills and people-management
skills.  I'm a hardcore technical geek and have had multiple
opportunities to advance up a management ladder, which I have always
declined.  I doubt I would do well at managing people; I certainly
wouldn't enjoy it nearly as much as I enjoy the technical stuff.

>> I've rarely asked someone senior to me for advice.

That...I would call that a minor issue.  Unless you are speaking
strictly about technical matters, you are missing out on some major
learning opportunities.  Most of the hardest-core geeks I know of are
some of the worst at non-technical skills.  I, for example, have
trouble even _perceiving_ office politics, never mind participating in
that game.  I've learnt a _lot_ from my management chains at various
jobs - but comparatively little of it has been technical.

>> [...] that I don't think they can provide the guidance I'm looking
>> for.

Maybe it's just something I missed because I didn't get your first
mail, but what _are_ you looking for?  As Joshua Boyd says, it sounds
as though you don't need a _technical_ mentor, which leads me to wonder
what you _do_ think you need mentoring in.  (There are probably many
things you need to learn, but, at least based on my own case, thre is
little point in trying to mentor you on skills you don't (yet) think
you need mentoring on.)

>> [In a startup] I want to ensure my communication with [the founders]
>> is efficient, clear and to the point so [...]

Yes, that sounds like a need for interpersonal and communication
skills.  You might not actually need a mentor; a good first step might
be to find a course in interpersonal skills or the like.

>> I went to a well regarded prep school with alumni resources I've
>> never tried to tap...

I don't really understand the prep-school system, so I could be totally
barking up a wrong tree here (especially if you're not talking in a
North American context).  But my impression of it is that it's really
designed for grooming for traditional (eg, Ivy League) university
paths, which leads to careers such as banking or law, not hardcore
geekery or STEM.  You might well be able to find something there to
help with interpersonal and communications skills, though; those are
valuable in a great many fields, especially the political kind such
schools tend to feed into.

[Joshua Boyd]
> An additional suggestion for clear an efficient, clear and to the
> point communication is to consider using an LLM assistant.

LLM?  Not a term I'm familiar with.

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