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Finding A Mentor In Data Science

How to climb on to the shoulders of a Giant

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash
Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash

I am a keen believer in Mentorship. Finding a mentor could be the defining factor as to why you succeed in reaching your Data Science goals in 5 years rather than 45 years, given you’ve got the grit to persist for that long.

There’s no doubt you are a smart person, motivated, and willing to read all the books you can about Data Science, but nothing will match being mentored by someone that has been there and done it. In fact, I am unsure whether two lifetimes is enough time to even scratch the surface of everything the name Data Science covers, so that is all the more reason to seek out a mentor.

"that’s not to say substantial progress can not be made in a short period of time."

Truthfully speaking, I don’t feel as though I ought to convince you of the importance of finding a Data Science mentor… It’s generally something we all know is beneficial. Nevertheless, I still find many people go about finding a mentor in the field the wrong way.

Be of Value Yourself

There was a story I once read about which I feel relates immensely to this topic (I wish I could remember what the story was called). The main character of the story was a bird, and this bird had hatched but its mother was nowhere to be seen at the time. As a result, the bird set about finding its mother and would go to anyone it saw – a dog, a cat, a human, a fox, you get my gist – and ask "Are you my Mother?".

In a professional environment, this is the equivalent of asking a Data Scientist that you just connected with on LinkedIn (or wherever) and have not built up a relationship with, "Will you be my Mentor?". It’s highly likely you probably wouldn’t get a reply, but let’s imagine you do, it will probably be a kind (due to how polite the Data Science community is) resounding "No".

"If you have to ask someone to mentor you, the answer is probably going to be No"

A personal belief I hold is that great mentors find you. I do not mean they will come to you in their splendor and declare "Henceforth, I shall be thy mentor" because that would be as ridiculous as the "Will you mentor me" scenario.

Instead, a great Data Science mentor would be someone that you have already demonstrated your potential too, or to put it better, you’ve shown you have value and they’ve are attracted to this – another reason to overcome any fear you have about making your work open-source.

They probably aren’t reaching out to you with the intentions of making you their mentee, but continual interactions would reveal to you both how much your beliefs align and in turn, would serve as the trust-building sector for them to determine whether they believe you are worth investing their time into.

Have No Agenda

This may almost sound counterproductive, yet I honestly feel as though not taking this advice is probably the worst thing you could ever do.

We can all sense when someone comes to us with an agenda, the extra kindness, and extra flattery. How often is what the person wants something that is going to disrupt your current arrangements? Probably 99.99999% of the time.

Someone in Data Science worth receiving mentorship from is going to be in high demand from many people. Everyone wants something from them, and if there is no evidential benefit to them from them becoming your mentor, why on earth would they want to?

Let me make this clear…

"A Great Mentor Does not Need You"

They’ve worked hard, made sacrifices that would have hurt to make at the time, and probably more things we could not begin to imagine, just to reach the place they have reached today – A little bit of flattery is not going to be enough to compensate for all the scars they have accumulated to reach where they hence why it’s likely to not land you the result you desire.

Alternatively, have a sincere desire to genuinely get to know the person and how they think.

Go All Out

Okay, you’ve identified who you’d want to mentor you. The next thing to do is to GO ALL OUT!

I’ve never understood the idea of multiple mentors. Don’t misunderstand me though, I am not talking about multiple mentors in different areas of your life, I mean multiple mentors in one area, i.e. multiple people mentoring you in Data Science.

If someone is mentoring you in Data Science related work, then go all out to listen to the one person. People have different philosophies and what works for one may be completely contradictory to another. If someone has given you their time, go all out and use the access you have to the fullest.

Follow their work, be of support, understand what they need help with so you may be of assistance, give, give, give, and give more. For example comment on all of their posts with supportive comments, if there is an optional event then make sure it is not optional to you.

Wrap Up

If you want your Data Science career to excel at a faster pace, mentorship is going to be the vehicle to take you there. However, finding a mentor is not about who earns the most money, or who has the most followers on LinkedIn. Instead, finding a Data Science mentor is about identifying the person who’s belief systems align with yours in a way that allows you to connect with one another.

What do you think about my approach to finding mentorship? Leave a response or connect with me on LinkedIn to keep the conversation going…

Kurtis Pykes – Data Scientist – Freelance, self-employed | LinkedIn


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