Become a mentor. Leave a legacy.
“What we have done for ourselves alone, dies with us…
What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.”
I could tell you mentoring developers helps you master your craft by forcing you to better understand the why behind everything you teach.
But it won’t convince you to become a mentor.
I could tell you that it looks great on a LinkedIn profile when you can say you’ve mentored developers, showing companies you can lead a team.
But it won’t convince you to become a mentor.
I could tell you all about the warm & fuzzy feelings you’ll get after a developer tells you how much they appreciate your help.
But it still won’t convince you to become a mentor.
If it did, you would have someone under your wing right now.
But since you’ve come this far, I’m assuming you don’t, and unfortunately no amount of warm fuzzies or supposed ‘growth’ offers will convince you.
But this will:
If you become a mentor, you will leave a legacy.
That’s right. Legacy.
Getting better at your skills seems like an empty promise. Warm and fuzzy isn’t worth the work. Your LinkedIn profile is already badass.
I get it.
But legacy…that’s another level. And it’s guaranteed when you mentor another developer.
The vast majority of what you’re working on right now is likely for yourself, to help your own career grow.
But what you do for others will remain after you. It remains immortal.
Every ounce of effort you make for another developer, to help them grow, is creating more legacy. More that your name will be remembered.
You’re in this game for meaning, worth, having mattered. And you know that legacy is your ticket to winning those.
So why not make this the day you start building that legacy?
There are millions of developers out there in need of a mentor, right now.
Developers who are ready to reach that next level, but just don’t have the knowledge you have of how to get there.
You see them on Twitter. You see them in your inbox. But you ignore them, right? Who has time for these helpless devs?
But it only takes one e-mail to set someone on a path to extraordinary.
One thoughtful Slack message in a dev Slack community.
One link shared to send someone toward greatness.
One book recommendation.
One tweet of encouragement.
One code review.
One constructive comment.
One ridiculously simple ounce of energy…and legacy is yours.
That’s all it takes, and you can help send a developer on a path toward greatness. And when that developer goes on to create something that impacts even more people, your legacy and mark on the world only grows greater.
Find one minute for one developer today from your circles. Build your legacy.
#neverholdback
Ryan Chartrand is the CEO of X-Team, a global team of extraordinary remote developers who can join your team and start executing today.
Check out and subscribe to X-Team’s blog at http://x-team.com/blog
