"Hello, my name is xxxxxx, you're really great at what you do, I'm still a newbie, can you be my mentor"
I've got a couple of messages like this on LinkedIn and it has to be one of the weirdest things.
For one, It shows you hold me in high esteem, like some kind of experienced folk, which doesn't sit well with me. This is because I'm probably not as experienced as you think I am.
Secondly, I wonder how it is to really be a mentor. I have no idea how to mentor anyone.
This doesn't mean it is bad to see the need for someone you can ask questions or look up to; If that is who you call a mentor. What is weird is putting it to them straight, just like the above message. It is most likely you'll be ignored.
It is really tough not having anyone to ask questions, right?. So how do you really get a mentor?
I belong to a number of group chats, slack channels, discord servers e.t.c. Anytime I have issues relating to coding, I ask; and I do get responses, 90% of the time. Isn't that the essence of a mentor? Trust me there are a lot of good folks in tech who are always ready to help, just make your issue as descriptive as possible.
Now to the sweetest part, sometimes when I ask these questions, some people deem it fit to respond to me directly in my inbox. Then next time I have issues, I can easily go back to these people (privately).
I have done this severally and I can tell you these people later became my friends. Yes!, friends!. That way no one feels weird.
You can also choose to message a person directly to ask them questions or relate any issue with them.
"Hello, I'm trying to use for loop to do xxxx, my code doesn't seem to run, have any idea how I can solve it".
And it could be semi-tech-related issues, such as
"Hello xxxx, I've been down so bad with imposter syndrome, how can I get through it"
When you ask someone to be your mentor, you're basically asking them to add you to their list of obligations. Trust me, not everyone has that luxury of time.