Being mentored on Teki-SL is an amazing opportunity: somebody more practiced than you is giving up their time, for free, to share their experience and knowledge. This guide gives you some pointers for getting the most out of it.

Mindset comes first

The most important thing is your mindset. At Teki-SL we talk a lot about having a growth mindset, the desire and humility to extract every crumb of knowledge you can from a situation, approaching conversations with the aim of learning and growing rather than proving yourself. If you explore the ideas your mentor raises and try the things they suggest, you will get huge value from the experience.

Mentors take you on journeys

The best mentors rarely hand you the answer. They give hints and ideas about how to do things differently, because they know that if you work out the solution yourself, you will understand it far more deeply. If something is not clear, take a few minutes to genuinely think it through. It should never feel like a riddle, if you really do not understand, say so, and your mentor will rephrase.

Expect one to three ideas per iteration. If there is something big to fix, your mentor will start there, solving one big thing often lets you improve other areas yourself before your next attempt.

Iterating

Every time you share an improved version, your mentor will follow up with more feedback. Mentors are volunteers, so a response can take a couple of days, that is normal. Explore other lessons and exercises in the meantime.

Ending a conversation

Once your work has improved, either of you can wrap up the conversation. If a mentor helped you, tell them, and tell us. If you have a bad experience, report it so we can stop it happening again. And remember: it is always better to walk away from a conversation than to get into an argument. Personalities sometimes clash; end the thread and find another mentor rather than getting frustrated.