Mostly Facebook for people pretending that their job makes a difference. I'm not judging, I'm on there too. It works, I'm not happy about it, but it works.
Blogs/Articles
Mostly self-absorbed jibberish
The importance of mentors
A mentor can be a funny thing, generally
you picture someone you look up to, craft your behavior on, or treat almost as a father figure in some cases. But as I’ve gotten older, I have found mentors
of various descriptors that I’d never have considered as a younger person, and the word ‘mentor’ itself has a very different meaning these days.
When I had my own business, I had a business coach (2, actually, first one was Ian.N, Shout out Ian!) that would come and see me to help with my management struggles and give an outsiders perspective on what would likely have been my own
pig-headed business decisions in my mid-late 20’s. The other mentor, was Ron, I always looked up to “The Ron” as my wife and I always called him. Ron would come in and give advice and direction for our business on everything from entering new
markets to dealing with difficult client situations.
At 27 or so, ‘The Ron’ was a LOT older than me. Pretty much everything he said was gospel and his advice paid for itself many times over! Like I always said,
“We were the right business, at the wrong time”. Due to my failures as a manager, the GFC or the flying spaghetti monster; the business was wrapped up,
and in 2011 or so, I sold out and needed a new career.
Next, I entered the spatial profession. I went to Uni and studied spatial science. I picked up my family and our lives and moved to a new city twice. I’m in my 30’s by now and I’m not easy to bullshit, I can spot wanker management-type talk a mile away and I am generally cynical at the world after being my own boss for years in what was a pretty cut-throat industry. This is where I found Doron. Doron is a Romainian gentleman that taught me as much about life as he did about surveying and what it means to have that responsibility. Doron was/is a great guy who worked hard and would not cut any corners to get a quality result, ever. Doron and I had a lot of old guy jokes where I would make fun of him for being old and he would would make fun of me for being fat. I still love that guy and chat 1-2 times a year. I owe him a lot for the time he spent working with me and helping me transition into a new career where much younger 22 year old, well educated ‘kids’, fresh out of uni were easily my senior. The value of his guidance could never be over-estimated. I went from fresh total noob, to registered surveying associate in about 4 years, all whilst maintaining a full time job with plenty of overtime and a functioning relationship with my wife. I could never have done it without remaining humble and often listening to whoever was the smartest guy in the room.
Whilst surveying, I took up Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. I started so I could learn to better defend myself on the ground. Since then it has become something so much more that. It’s a way to push my boundary’s, meet people, deal with stress and depression and just be fitter, stronger and healthier than I’ve probably ever been. BJJ is a funny beast, because you’re always dealing with someone fatter, weaker, less fit, younger, smaller, bigger, female or whatever; that can beat the shit out of you, and it’s a humbling experience. BJJ is extremely complex and it takes an unusual personality to enjoy it, and an even more unusual personality to stick with it for more than a couple of years. Those of us left, have shared so much emotion/trials/tribulations on the mat, that you get to know someone’s personality in a way that isn’t as easily hidden as it is in everyday society.This is where I met Glen. Glen is an interesting dude who took me a long time to start working out, but regardless, we bonded and became real good mates. In his late 40’s; Glen is older than me by about 10 years and ranks considerably higher in BJJ. I give him a lot of shit about his age, but the reality is, is that I genuinely hope I am as fit and healthy as Glen when I am in my 40’s. The ironic nature of my age-related jokes doesn’t escape me. We have bonded on the BJJ mats, competitions and shared life experiences and stories of struggles in life. I look up to Glen and I have taken his advice and he has helped keep me grounded when my shit hits the fan and I would like to think at times, I have done the same for him. Uh oh…. my mentors are getting younger….. or I am getting older? Either way. SHIT.....
I am 38 now, I work with a otherwise delightful 22 year old woman who regularly makes fun of MY age, the audacity of the younger generation….. I work for a business
that does aerial mapping of various descriptions. I was hired to help with spatial mapping product production and geodetic advice when requested. In this role, I have
been given an opportunity to polish up and further develop some programming abilities that I studied when I was younger, but never really pursued, maybe because I
didn’t have the opportunities, I was too immature or maybe because I wasn’t prepared to put in the amount of work and study that currently has me up at 2am 3-5 nights
a week while I try to tame C#.
This is where I’ve been lucky enough to meet Dean, or ‘Mad-Dog’ as I like to call him. He’s secretly brilliant, terribly under-appreciated and I’m lucky enough to have
the opportunity to learn software development from him every single day at work, while he builds a software package that will automate a monumental proportion of the
processing work in the industry I am in. He has helped me define goals, learn difficult to understand programming topics, give honest feedback on shitty code and develop
my career as a software developer. He’s the guy that other software developers tell me quietly “I’ve never worked with anyone as capable as him, I’ve worked with other
developers, but no one who can do the things he can…” He is a friend to me, and a mentor. He is also younger than me by a couple of years or so. The guidance he gives
me on software development will remain with me forever. I’ve wanted a job writing software for a long time, and with his help, I am pretty much already there. He has
helped me define myself as a developer and complete projects that I am now very proud of. Without his encouragement and feedback, I probably would have already given
up and put it in the too hard basket. Again.
So, what have I learned from these experiences and mentors? Mentors can come in a range of descriptions. Looking back on my own life, my advice to my younger self would be to keep a wider net in terms of filtering these people out. Just because someone is older, doesn’t mean they have all the answers; and just because someone is younger, doesn’t mean they have not been exposed to a range of opinions and skills that you have not yet had the opportunity. I’ve always asked a lot of ‘stupid’ questions and I try to readily admit when I am wrong or not 100% sure if I am right. The prize for swallowing my pride on a regular basis? is the opportunity for unexpected friendships and the knowledge that people who are good at what they do will (generally) share that knowledge readily.
Paul
November - 2019