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Asael Shinder
Asael Shinder

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You're Allowed to Mentor Before You Feel Ready

You think mentoring is for the experts.

For the staff engineer.
The person with the gray hair
and the twenty-year résumé.

So you wait,
and you help no one,
and you rob someone of exactly
what would have helped them most.

Here's the truth.

The best person to help a beginner
is often someone one step ahead.

You remember the confusion.
You know where the road was slippery
because you slipped there last month.

The expert forgot all of that years ago.

You don't need to know everything
to help someone know one thing.

Mentor from where you are.
The person two steps back
needs you more than the expert does.

– Asael Shinder

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