[OFF-TOPIC] How do I find a mentor when no one I work with knows what they are doing?

[Larry Martell]

On Tue, Apr 8, 2014 at 3:07 AM, James Brewer <james at brwr.org> wrote:
> I'm sure there will be a substantial amount of arrogance perceived from this
> question, but frankly I don't think that I have anything to learn from my
> co-workers, which saddens me because I really like to learn and I know that
> I have a lot of learning to do.
>
> I've been employed as a software engineer for about eight months now and I
> feel like I haven't learned nearly as much as I should. Sure, I've picked up
> little tidbits of information here and there, but I'm no more confident in
> my ability to build anything more complex than a basic crud app than I was
> the day I started.

I don't know where you work, but there are all sorts of different
working environments. I've been at this for 35 years and I think I've
seen most of them. I've worked at places where:

-People were afraid you'll take their job and they won't answer
questions or spend time to bring you up to speed on the company's
systems

-People who you're working with either were against hiring you or were
not involved in the hiring process and won't work with you.

-People are on crazy deadlines and have no time to work with you.

-People have tried to work with you, but don't want to anymore because
______ (fill in the blank: you're arrogant, you're stupid, you smell,
you don't learn fast enough for them, you like the Yankees and they're
a Red Sox fan, ....)

-People make you feel like an idiot when you ask a question and they
intimidate you so you don't come back and ask more.

-The culture requires some 'trial by fire' where you stand up to
people and/or make it known you're not going away and won't take crap
from anyone.

-The new hire sits around and waits for things to happen instead
making things happen themselfs.

-There is absolutely nothing interesting going on at the company - no
new development, no hard bugs to track down - and the people they work
there are lazy and slothy, just marking time until they can retire.

-People are super patient and helpful and they answer all your
questions and go beyond the call of duty to help you.

Do any of these apply to your situation?