Inspiration and the Mentor Who Guided Me -- Part 3

 

Here is the first blog post of this series where I share how I started my Software Testing career.  I continue with the next question in this blog post.   The second question from Trending in Testing is -- "Who is your inspiration or mentor to guide you towards your journey?".

To start, I will thank my fellow testers and programmers with whom I worked and working today.  They influence my practice to get better each time.  I continue to learn from them.

People and Networking

I had just stepped into the second year of my Software Testing career.  One evening, I went to the desk of my friend and colleague Kantharaja MP.  He was reading the blog Thinking Tester by Shrinivas Kulkarni.  I got curious and asked what it is.  I did not know what the blog is then.  He explained to me what the blog is.  I got to know Shrinivas Kulkarni, James Bach, Pradeep Soundararajan, Ashok T, Rahul Verma, and Michael Bolton from the blog of Shrini.

Further, I got to know Vipul Kocher, Rahul Mirakur, Meeta Prakash, Ben Simo, Scott Barber, Gerald Marvin Weinberg, Martin Fowler, and Dr. Cem Kaner.  I connected with these practitioners and started to observe their practice.  Thanks, Kantharaja MP.

As I continued, I met Ajay Balamurugadas, Santhosh Tuppad, Parimala Hariprasad, and more friends who joined this network.

I'm continuing to connect with practitioners every day.  I interact, I observe.  I'm learning from each person with whom I interact.  I'm learning by observing the work of practitioners with whom I do not interact in person.

Mentor and Mentoring

I see, we must set out to find the mentor in our journey!  Find your mentors.  Yes, I said mentors and not a mentor.

My Mentor

I did not have a mentor.

I wish, I had a mentor who could connect, understand and help me to be competent, and know the craft, industry, and skills.  I continued to practice and learn from my mistakes, and by observing other practitioners.

I was seen as fun and the topic of fun for my attire, how I spoke and I write the English.  This made me distant from people whom I approached seeking help.  Today, I understand, could be this is the help I was offered for being better and I feel good about it.  I continue to respect them.  These people have inspired me to practice better.  I silently observed how they practiced and I experimented to develop my ways to practice.

I seek and step up to learn from all people when I see that, I can learn from a person or they can help me to learn.  This is doing good for me!

Today, I seek the help of people in the community by approaching them for their suggestions and guidance.  I give the credits and say their name in public and this is important.  I apply the suggestion, guidance, and what I learn from this appropriately based on the need and demand of context.

Ravisuriya as a Mentor

Today, 

• I want to be a mentor who understands the mentee and assists in the practice
• I want to connect with a mentee and listen

I understand,

• Each person is unique and comes with different
• emotions
• mindset
• attitude
• family situations
• personal life situations
• physical health conditions
• mental health conditions
• aspirations
• problems witnessed, and 
• connecting frequency levels
• and, it varies every day with a person

I try to connect, listen, learn, and assist where I can.  I'm a jovial person but at the same time, I'm committed and disciplined when it comes to practice and working.  I see the fun where we all enjoy and get involved in the learning, practice, and work.

Working with a Mentee

I do not associate and work with a mentee by seeing:

• her or his social identity
• how his or her English is
• how she or he appears in dressing
• how she or he socializes and opens up to conversing  

All these are needed in the professional life of a Software Engineer.  I do not deny it.  These have to be groomed every day.  Today, I want to and will dress better than I did in the early 2000s.  I speak!  I express what I have, feel and think, and communicate.

But, it is not a mandate to me for listening to a person (mentee) and getting started unless I can make time.  These all will change gradually when one sees self and puts in efforts to get better.  And, a mentor has a role to play here as well.

If mocked for this, probably the mentee or whoever wants to be a mentee will build the distance and more barriers.  This will disturb the communication and relationship between the mentor and the mentee.  All have different conditions and environments in which we grew up and it has an influence on a person (mentee and mentor).

I look for how serious, disciplined, and committed is the mentee in progressing where she or he wants to aspire.  I see the communication is consistent in whatever form between the mentee and mentor.  By the way, communication is not English; the spoken language is one of the mediums through which we communicate.  And, English is one medium to communicate in the communication.

I try to see how can I assist and to what extent.  If I can, I will assist; if I do not have the skills to assist, I will try to connect them with other practitioners who can help better than me.  I talk and make sure we smile together in discussions.

I do not make fun of a person who asked for help and assistance.  I wish no others undergo what I went through.

Find your Mentors

Having a mentor helps very much! 

Find your mentors. Have more than one mentors who have

• the different thought processes,
• ideologies,
• thinking style and pattern,
• different experiences in the area of your practice,
• contrasting questions and approaching ways to learn and solve a problem,
• practitioners of different roles in your field of practice and work,
• practitioners who are not from your field of practice and work,
• and, now you continue to add more to this list ...

Most of the time one will fall into the trap of having a mentor who has got similar thought process and ideology.  This is good.  But, it is never enough to see the perceptions of your subject, work, and practice.

Connect to people of different ages and more importantly who have gone through what you are going through and also who have not gone through it.  

You and your mentor should be able to connect and offer what you both can exchange in return.  Mentorship is a relationship and a partnership where you share and receive.

I try to learn consistently that, the mentor does not have to be older in age and industry experience than I have.  A mentor is one who is able to give and share what I'm looking for in the journey and thereby helps to grow and transform me into a better version each time.

Find your mentors!  Connect to them.