Where do you find a mentor? Where do you find a mentee?

[simon_tomes]

I was super inspired listening to @tbeckford and @colormedav’s talk at TestBash UK 2023. They were super fortunate to have met each other to develop a powerful mentor/mentee relationship and friendship.

Tamoya also shared this in a recent post on LinkedIn:

“Mentorship is a cornerstone of our community. It’s through mentoring that we pass on our knowledge, support one another, and foster the growth of future leaders in the QA space.”

It got me thinking, where have you found a mentor? And if you’re a mentor, where did you find your mentee?

What was the process like to set up the formal connection? Did it have a time limit? What did you achieve (continue to achieve)? Did you meet via a mentorship program at work, through a community initiative, or someplace else?

Would love to hear more mentor/mentee stories.

Thanks for sharing.

[simon_tomes]

Ah yes, I took some photos.

[kristof (Kristof Van Kriekingen)]

@simon_tomes

where have you found a mentor?

At work, it’s kind of a mandatory thing, I mostly use it (“him”) for guidance within the organization. I used to learn a lot about testing from him but now the tables have turned!

@simon_tomes

And if you’re a mentor, where did you find your mentee?

People just come up to me online in communities like this. Asking if they can be mentored. depending on what they want I accept.

@simon_tomes

What was the process like to set up the formal connection?

I always set up an initial call to check their goals and what they want out of it, if they have the time to put in some effort. Some people only seek chat/written mentorship and that’s fine too. They come to me with a question on how to test X or Y in a situation and I just tell them what I would do for example.

It’s very different from mentee to mentee. Some show me an application and we’ll do things together, if they need assistance to for example perform a race condition test for the first time etc etc

@simon_tomes

Did it have a time limit?

I have no time limits, I’m always happy to help unless the mentee puts in 0 effort obviously.
If they want to learn automation and I’ll give them “homework” and they’ve commited towards that and don’t do it over and over, then they are just making a joke on themselves. (not sure what the real expression is but you get the point )

Meeting up with people is also very different:

• Some just ask if they can have a call and then we talk/show some stuff.
• Some we just have a Bi-Weekly meeting of 1 hour.
• Some just spam with me questions and I try to answer them all as best as I can

@simon_tomes

What did you achieve (continue to achieve)?

For me it’s a knowledge transfer in both ways, I like to share my knowledge but I also like to absorb knowledge, the best way to learn is to teach others. When people are stuck with a problem which I don’t know either, we’ll look for a possible answer together and we both come out smarter. Sometimes people have different thinking patterns and it gives me extra ideas for testing challenges also!

It’s also a very nice feeling when after you’ve coached someone they contact you back after a few months and say stuff like “I can apply what I learned and found so many bugs, all thanks to you!”
Who doesn’t like a pad on the back

@simon_tomes

Did you meet via a mentorship program at work, through a community initiative, or someplace else?

All of them started online and 1 through work (they all just contacted me, simply by a DM).

Just an FYI: I don’t ask for payment or anything (so it’s not an “official work thing”), people literally just ask for mentorship and I spend my free time doing it if I have the time

[coope (Dale Cooper)]

You are an amazing person FYI

[kristof (Kristof Van Kriekingen)]

Haha thanks XD I just enjoy doing it so it’s not even hard work! XD

[jenh11 (Jenny Hulbert)]

I love this thread & apologies if im posting this in the wrong place but I’m desperate to find a solution right now. Plus, if I don’t write this now I’ll only think about it some more & then likely not do it

I desperately need a mentor! I am an experienced tester but when it comes to coding my neurodivergent brain just doesn’t get it at times. It doesn’t help that my confidence is low. I’ve had a tricky mentoring experience with test automation so far & a long period of absence (among other things) so this hasn’t helped at all. I don’t really have a mentor as such at work nor is there any real knowledge about what I’m trying to work on - Playwright mainly. Suffice to say that trying to learn more or less from scratch as well as maintain a large test suite on my own is challenging. Are there any ND friendly mentors out there willing to help at all please? Or can anyone recommend somewhere they can be found? Thanks for reading if you got this far

[jaimip (Jaimi Pinnock)]

where have you found a mentor?

I was really lucky and had a call center role where someone in engineering decided to mentor me and help me get to a point where I’m now a successful QA Engineer! I’ve also found mentors in local communities similar to Ministry of Testing and even in jobs I’ve held as a QA professional. I hold those folks very close to my heart.

where did you find your mentee?

Since I wouldn’t have found my QA career without support of my mentors I’m very active in looking for opportunities to mentor those around me. I joined a local QA community and contribute to their community and courses. I speak on topics I’m comfortable with and offer to help anyone interested. I’ve recently started helping a group of folks I’ve worked with in the past learn QA principles. I’ve also found quite a few folks through my own QA roles that I have been able to mentor. If you look for those opportunities, I guarantee you’ll find them!

What was the process like to set up the formal connection? Did it have a time limit? What did you achieve (continue to achieve)? Did you meet via a mentorship program at work, through a community initiative, or someplace else?

Mentoring doesn’t have to look like a formal professional connection. Helping your brother learn QA principles is mentoring. Helping a junior team member at work build a stronger skill set and a better understanding of QA principles is mentoring. You don’t have to timebox things or go through any formal program. Giving back to the QA community in any way can qualify as mentoring! Especially if you’re building relationships and continuing to support those you connect with.

[jaimip (Jaimi Pinnock)]

A fellow neurodivergent QA here. @jenh11 Learning to code is HARD at first. You can do this! Everyone struggles with those concepts and projects at first, give yourself some grace and patience.
I’m eternally grateful for my mentor. He started a formal class and helped me even when I rage quit his class twice… I quit because it made me feel impossibly stupid and inadequate, and he kindly reminded me and the rest of our group of what I said at first. Learning these concepts is hard. Getting good at using them is hard. You can do it though!

I don’t have experience with Playwright yet, but I’d gladly help you with basic Javascript principles if that’s what you’re using! I’m not great (yet) at the other languages Playwright supports.