Re: Mentoring

["Rick Ramsey" <rick -dot- ramsey -at- east -dot- sun -dot- com>]

Kimber,

I'll volunteer, too, though I'm a little nervous about doing it over the
web.  I've mentored writers before face to face, and sometimes the results
were good.  A lot depends on what the aspiring writers want to get out of
the experience.  So, to set some expectations about how I may or may not be
useful:

1.  I won't help you find a job.
2.  I won't edit your work.
3.  I won't help you get ahead in your career.
4.  I won't help you look good in front of anybody.
5.  There will be times when I'm simply not available.

What I can and will do is help you figure out how you can do good technical
writing, how you can manage your project successfully, and how you can find
a solution to your tech writing problems.

Everybody has their own interpretation of what a mentor is.  Speaking for
myself, a mentor is not a teacher.  A teacher instructs or provides
information; a mentor simply guides.  So if ask me how to use Frame, I'll
tell you to go buy a book.

Rick


----- Original Message -----
From: <kimber_miller -at- acs-inc -dot- com>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 1:42 PM
Subject: Mentoring


> 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
>
>
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^
> 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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