“Plunge boldly into the thick of life, and seize it where you will, it is always interesting.”
The above quote is advice from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. And so I did, a couple of weeks ago. I plunged into coaching/mentoring a junior java developer… and it is indeed interesting!
Those who know me will confirm that I am a rather talkative person. I like to talk, to connect with people and see what cards live has dealt them. I don’t have that social anxiety that would stop me from talking to a complete stranger. And I have always liked the idea of coaching, transferring knowledge etc, so this is a walk in the park, right? Not really! I must admit that I wasn’t this shining example of confidence when I sent that message to Laura. We connected a couple of minutes before on LinkedIn, I saw she was looking for java coaching/mentoring… and so I reached out.
“What am I doing? Can I really do this?” I have never coached before. Sure, I have guided juniors at work, helping them on the job with problems and questions, take them aside every once and awhile, sharing some insights. But that is not the same. We want to achieve an actual goal here, with a deadline! Scary, but also exciting :).
My first mentoring weeks have already passed. Laura still seems to like coding, so I guess that is a good indication. I am enjoying this a lot by the way. I didn’t know how much fun it is to coach somebody who is so eager to learn and learns so fast (I would like to credit myself and my coaching abilities for that, but it’s still a bit early to assess that).
Since we started with this ‘coaching thing’, I have also learned a couple of things:
- I don’t know as much as I think I do.
- Knowing is one thing, being able to explain it properly is another.
- Being a coach is not about knowing everything. I believe it is more about knowing what is important and guiding towards that.
Anyway, I don’t regret accepting this challenge and I think it is great working with you Laura!