The Importance of Mentorship as a Beginner Developer
As a Front-End Developer, I have experienced countless instances of receiving mentorship, as well as providing it; and I can say without a doubt in my mind, it is one of the best things about working in the tech industry.
This community that continues to rally around each other, and support one another every single day is truly something to be admired. Whether I have a small question about why the terminal is spitting out an error that I don’t understand, or if I’m looking for someone to help me with a larger scale challenge in a project, I can always be confident that I can find someone willing and happy to assist.
What mentorship has given me, is empowerment, confidence, and knowledge. Empowerment to push boundaries (and myself!) further into a fast paced and ever-changing industry, and with the confidence to do so. I can only speak to my own experience, but I know that every single time someone has mentored/helped me with my code, it has pushed me to understand the problem more, to dissect and analyze things more deeply, and to have confidence in my code, and in my own abilities. I do not believe that I would be where I am today without having these opportunities.

Just like it is important to have mentorship throughout your personal journey as a developer, I believe it is also essential to have a mentor in the workplace — this goes for every industry. Perhaps less so as you advance in your career, furthering away from ‘Junior Status’, but while you are a junior developer, it would be wise to find yourself a mentor that can help to guide you. I have had a mentor in the company that I work for, since day one. Our Senior developer has and continues to be, a wealth of knowledge and support for me every day, and I could not be more thankful.
Having that leadership in my first job as a developer is so invaluable and without a doubt, has allowed me to learn 10 times more than I ever would have if I didn’t have the opportunity to walk into work every day and learn from someone else. There are countless things that my workplace mentor has taught me that it would be impossible to list them all. However, I hope that my argument about the importance of mentorship has been conveyed strongly enough to those just starting out in the field and are asking themselves ‘what will help me grow as a developer?’.
