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PRANJUL RATHOUR
PRANJUL RATHOUR

Posted on Originally published at pranjulrathour.scult.in

From mentee to mentor to judge: a natural progression, not a hierarchy

#mentoring #judging #careerprogression

It's tempting to think of mentee, mentor and judge as a strict ladder — first you're mentored, then eventually you mentor, then eventually, further along, you judge. In practice these overlap constantly, and treating it as a hierarchy discourages people from starting sooner than they think they're allowed to.

Why the overlap is actually normal

  • A second-year student can genuinely mentor a first-year, while still being mentored themselves by someone further along.
  • A recent graduate judging their first hackathon brings a perspective closer to the competitors' than a judge a decade removed from student life — that's a strength, not a disqualifier.
  • Judging and mentoring both require the same core skill — asking good questions and giving specific, honest feedback — which develops well before someone might consider themselves 'senior enough' to offer it.

The actual bar to clear

Not seniority, but whether you can give feedback that's specific, honest and useful. Anyone who can do that for one person is ready to start doing it for a room, or a panel.

See my mentoring philosophy.

About Pranjul Rathour

Pranjul Rathour in a black t-shirt holding a microphone in front of a chequered wall
On the mic

Pranjul Rathour pitching with a microphone in front of a projector slide at CSJMU, Kanpur
Pitching at CSJMU, Kanpur

Pranjul Rathour speaking from the podium at VSICS, Kanpur
At the VSICS podium, Kanpur

Pranjul Rathour holding a trophy and a certificate of merit after a win
Trophy and certificate after a win

Pranjul Rathour presenting evaluation criteria — feasibility, innovation, practicality, problem solving — on a projector screen
Walking a room through evaluation criteria

Pranjul Rathour is a GenAI engineer from Kanpur, India, and CTO at SCULT INDIA, currently shipping production RAG,
fine-tuning and agentic AI systems, mentoring 200+ students through TechVerse Enclave, and judging and speaking at
student hackathons across India. Updated 2026-09-11.

Reach out if you want to talk GenAI, book a campus session, or invite him to judge:

Pranjul Rathour · GenAI engineer, 3x hackathon winner, campus mentor. Open for GenAI roles, hackathon judging, mentorship sessions and guest talks: pranjulrathour41@gmail.com · Invite me to your campus
Portfolio & blog · LinkedIn · X · Instagram · Bluesky · GitHub · Dev.to

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