blind-mentors

Proto-documentation for blind mentors peer mentoring

View project on GitHub

Welcome to Blind Mentors

Blind Mentors is a mentorship community on Discord created after seeing a set of discussions on Blind. You can join the Blind Mentors group through this invite link.

Some simple rules

  1. The community is founded on mutual respect and interest in helping others. Disrespect, rudeness, will not be tolerated and will result in kicks or bans by the mods.
  2. Mentorship is an intently personal relationship, and violating that privacy is not okay. Mentorship is most effective when there is trust.
  3. See rule #1.

How it works

We’ve got a set of roles on the server

  • Mentors - people who are willing to Mentor
    • Mentor - You are mentoring people but not necessarily looking for new Mentees
    • Mentor L4Mentee - You are open to mentoring someone if a match is good.
  • Mentee - people looking for mentorship
    • Mentee - You currently are being mentored, and don’t need more support
    • Mentee L4Mentor - You are looking for more mentoring support.
  • Matchers - These are trusted members that will help connect Mentees to Mentors. Don’t be surprised if someone reaches out to you if you are a member of Mentee L4Mentor. You should be able to trust these people enough to connect you with a Mentor. Matchers have a Goal Zero for L4Mentor or L4Mentee roles.
  • Mod - A moderator. They are the rule enforcers, they will use their judgement to enforce the rules.
  • Lurker - A general member of the community. Expect to see them in the different topical rooms.

Now that we’ve got the rules and roles worked out, we’ll wander through the experience

  1. Join the server this invite link
  2. Go to #role-selection and choose a role from above
  3. Announce yourself if you are comfortable
  4. In #looking-for-mentee announce yourself and what experiences/skills makes you unique
  5. In #looking-for-mentor announce yourself and what support you are looking for
  6. Look for a match yourself in #looking-for-mentee and #looking-for-mentor, or if you see someone in a chat that has the Mentor L4Mentee that you think would be good, feel free to directly connect.
  7. Although you can connect with a DM, we recommend creating a group DM to allow you to add others. If introduced by a Matcher they will typically invite both of you to a room.

Some simple best practices

  • Mentorship is built on trust. As such there is no heirarchy other than a professional relationship between two people.
    It helps to share stories and personal experiences to help cement those relationships.
  • Mentorship is built on communication. Chat is good, but at the right time moving to voice or video is more important.
  • Mentorship is built on building history. Keep a log of the structured discussions and calls to help form that history. It’s very important if you have mutliple mentoring relationships active at any time.
  • Mentorship is built on structure and consistency. Find a cadence for focused discussions that works best; bi-weekly or monthly structured meetings will help allow time for the advice/feedback to be put in practice.
  • Mentorship is built on advice, not direction. The mentee has a situation, the mentor tries to provide insight, understanding or clarity on that situation. The mentee still is responsible for their own decisions.
  • Mentorship is a long haul relationship. Strong mentoring relationships are like fine wine, they improve with age and cultivation.

The awkward first dance (or how to get started)

The most difficult part of establishing a mentoring relationship is that awkward first dance. You don’t know them, but now you are in a room with them.
Here are some standard icebreakers and who can take those first steps. Some good icebreakers are…

  • What’s on your mind?
  • What’s your top three things you want to discuss?
  • My brief bio is xyz, how about you?

Our channels

  • START HERE
    • #getting started - This is where you land. We’ll be updating this room to guide you through the getting started process
    • #role-selection - This room is a bot room. You can auto role by choosing a particular emoji to react with.
    • #news-updates - We’ll be providing Blind Mentors updates here
    • #general - The general chat room for random things
  • LOOKING FOR
    • #looking-for-mentee - If you are a mentor, you can hock your wares here.
    • #looking-for-mentee - Insert your calls for helkp here
  • MENTORING
    • #mentor-accolades - If a mentor has helped you, post it here
  • DISCUSSION Topical Discussions
    • #topic-mentoring - Text chat for mentoring
    • #topic-interviews - Interviewing? Want some help?
    • #topic-management - Managers are different beasts. Discuss the good, the bad, the ugly.
    • #topic-tech - Shooting the breeze, chatting about tech.
  • MODS AND MANAGEMENT
    • #mods - Having an issue, speak to the mods

Some Common Questions/Concerns

*What is Mentoring?* We’ve seen lots of different views on what mentoring is. At least within the contet of Blind Mentors, mentoring is the mutual professional support between a Mentee and Mentor. In general, the Mentor may have more experience, background, or awareness of a particular domain. The Mentee is faced with problems that the Mentor may have seen and can provide advice. Think of Mentoring as a “Advice/Sounding Board” type relationship, rather than a “Teacher/Student” type relationship.

*I’ve never done this before, where do I start?* Social awkwardness is totally cool and okay. If you don’t feel comfortable reaching out or posting don’t sweat it. We’ve got a #mentee-l4mentor-lounge that is Role based. Just by following step 2 above.

*Why would a Mentor care about me?* Mentors on Blind Mentors have selected to be involved as a mentor, they have chosen to put themselves in a situation where they can care for and help the community. Don’t project yourself onto mentors.

*I feel guilty asking my Mentor for help, is it okay to ask?* Again, mentors have chosen to be involved. The mentor/mentee should negotiate the type/method/frequency of communication and stick to it. As a relationship, discussions on boundaries are important.

*It’s pointless having a mentor outside my company, why bother?* Mentors provide guidance, interpretation, and advice based on the information you give them. They won’t be in the room when you take action, but they can help provide clarity. The benefit of a mentor outside your company is that they can provide the objective view based on the data you give.

*I’ve got a tech question, can I ask that?* Yeah, feel free to ask those sort of questions in the #topic-* sections. See the first FAQ on what is Mentoring to get a better understanding of what sort questions should be asked. How do I use tech A?, is a general topic. How do I choose between tech A and B? is a much better mentoring topic.

*What do Mentors get out of this?* I can’t talk for all Mentors, but the value I personally get is giving back, and the ability to work through many more scenarios that I would professionally.