Mentoring

[kimber_miller -at- acs-inc -dot- com]

Whirlers:

Re:  The rhetoric flying through the wires about to use or not to use
methodologies, whether universities adequately prep grads for the workplace, and
whether such rhetoric worries new professionals

All this has me thinking that ours is a profession requiring mentoring--people
up the ladder of experience reaching back to assist new professionals in finding
and climbing the same ladder  of professionalism.

Yet, ours is also a profession that is production-driven. Deadlines and
time-to-market are king. How can mentoring possibly fit into this professional
environment? How can it NOT?

So--to the Wise Ones with Scads of Experience:  Do you mentor the new writers in
your world? If a singleton contractor, do you find yourself mentoring --in some
form--at your client site? Do you refuse to mentor? Why?  Does your
company/department/manager have a stated policy, or a general practice?

Newbies--what do you think of mentoring? What panics you when you first sit down
in your cubicle? What's the mentoring/training/ramp-up time like in your world?
Is it adequate? How would you change it?

I think that it would be a Good Thing for us all to listen to each other on this
subject. I hope you agree enough to respond.

Looking forward to hearing from you all.

--Kimber

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Be wiser than other people, if you can, but do not tell them so.
--Lord Chesterfield

Kimber Miller
kimber_miller -at- acs-inc -dot- com
Affiliated Computer Services
Dallas, Texas
214.887.7408

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