5 Reasons Why Students on Technology-Focused Courses Should Have a Mentor

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We live in a fast-paced, quickly adapting and progressing world, and this is particularly true of the technology industry. Few industries move at such speeds and drive fundamental changes impacting all industries, as that of technology. Keeping up with technological advances, improvements and ultimately positioning yourself at the forefront of such advances can be extremely difficult, but at the same time is vital for career success.

Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do to help to ensure that you are keeping up to speed with trends and being guided in the right direction with your career. The one thing we want to focus on today is mentoring. But why should you have a mentor?

1. A mentor can help to you keep on top of trends
It can sometimes be daunting staying on top of trends. No more so than when you’re in an industry like technology where they are continually adapting. Having a mentor who’s a professional working in the industry you want to be working in will be a huge help in keeping you updated about trends and new technologies.

2. A mentor can hold you accountable to your goals
If you’re like many people out there, you will have lots of goals and ambitions but often find that you don’t meet them. Being held accountable to your goals by a mentor will not only encourage to complete your career goals but it will likely help you to set more goals and to achieve more too. So, whether those goals are in learning about new technologies, researching industrial changes or developing more complex software, your mentor will be able to help you to keep on top of goals.

3. A mentor can provide you real-life insights
Being mentored by a working professional will help you to understand the real working world. So often, we come to understand a role or industry based on what we hear from word of mouth, films, television and the media but the reality is that a lot of jobs are very different from the way they are portrayed from the outside. Having a mentor already working in certain industries and roles can be a huge help in providing realistic insights into jobs and working roles.

4. A mentor can offer first-hand experience
Having someone who has been through the career paths that you are looking to go through can give you first-hand experience and guidance where you are likely to need it most. They will know where the challenges are likely to be, be able to point out the areas where they faced issues and made mistakes and can help you to avoid them.

5. A mentor may know about opportunities you've not come across
The working world is incredibly complex. New jobs, roles and even industries are cropping up all the time – consider just how many ‘Blockchain’ or ‘Data Science’ related roles and jobs there are now, compared with five years ago when many people wouldn’t even have heard of the word ‘Blockchain’. With these new roles always appearing, a mentor may well be able to make career suggestions that you won’t even have thought about.

We are delighted and excited to announce the partnership between mentoring network PushFar and the SciDataUCM community, at Madrid University. The partnership will encourage the growth of mentoring relationships and help students to find relevant mentor matches. Being led by Computer Science student Alberto Pastor Moreno, the conversation began when Alberto approached PushFar CEO Ed Johnson. This new partnership will drive further students and professionals to sign up and form more mentoring connections. Interested in mentoring or being mentored? Join PushFar.com free today.