![mentor.thumb](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/10/mentor.thumb_.gif)
What do you get out of mentoring?
Your peers form a group within which you grow, but they are on the same level as you. Some will grow faster and move out of your group and some will fall behind and disappear. Throughout it all, while they offer support and commiseration via “misery loves company,” they cannot give you what a mentor will provide.![mentor1](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/10/mentor1.gif)
Why would someone WANT to mentor you?
Many professionals feel it’s giving back to the industry. Some feel it’s good karma and some do it because they enjoy helping the next generation. I’ve always felt all of the above and that when you help the next generation enter the field and do it as professionals with all of the correct information on business, they make the industry stronger. In almost every article I write, I relay the wise words of Brian Singer, creative director and founder of Altitude Associates:"The way you get ahead in design...is by lifting up those around you."
I’ve mentioned in several articles that I was not happy with the treatment I received from my former alma mater but I am big enough of a person to look past that and help students from my old school. I judged people by who they were and wanted to encourage those with talent and professional drive.![mentor2](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/10/mentor2.gif)
Where do you find a mentor?
As I did, you may want to start with one of your teachers from art school. They have a certain oneness with you as a student and although there are certain states with laws that won’t allow them to fraternize with students or even friend you on Facebook, once you are out of school, a professional relationship is fine. Maybe you didn’t go to art school or you did but your teachers hated you or they just aren’t worth the effort as mentors. Perhaps your family knows someone in the field? A good friend of my parents was a big wig in advertising and was always happy to see me when I dropped by his office. My grandfather fixed the cars of people who would be happy to do him a favor and let me tour their office or sit around and watch them work. My uncle was in the mob and people who owed him “favors” were happy to meet with me and answer questions and give me office furniture, electronics, and cartons of cigarettes. Family can be a great avenue to finding a mentor.![mentor3](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/10/mentor3.gif)
Screwing up the mentor relationship
You’ve gotten your in. You have what many other creative want and will wait for you to screw up or die…or both so they can grab your spot.![mentor5](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/10/mentor5.gif)
- DON’T be late! If I have to wait twenty minutes to an hour for you to show up, you are not respecting me, my time or my schedule.
- DON’T steal from me! Yes, it has happened and it has cut down on those I allow into my office.
- DON’T refuse any job! As with the demand that interns not make copies of get coffee, you have to start at the bottom. Even at that bottom, you are still heads above those not interning or connected with a mentor.
- FOLLOW DIRECTIONS! I’ve had to fire several interns because they had a “big surprise” for me when they finished an assignment.
- RESPECT YOU MENTOR! If you go on Facebook and post something negative about your mentor, it’ll get back to them. Remember all the other people waiting for you to screw up or die? They’ll be happy to see that your boss/mentor gets the message.
- WORK HARD! Bosses and mentors like to see their time and trust is rewarded when they see you take responsibility for your own career. If you show you don’t care, then why should we?
- HELP OTHERS! Keep the good karma flowing. We help you, you help others, they help the next and so on.
Why should YOU be a mentor?
We paid our dues and spent years clawing our way to the top…or middle but we all should remember how hard it was. Do we say, “Tough! Do it like I did,” or do we practice compassion and help those young people who deserve a break? More importantly, do we train our next generation to keep the business strong and not allow them to be the ones to whom business owners refer when they say, “I can get it cheaper,” pointing at new graduates? Business acumen has changed over the past few years. When I entered the field, the Catch-22 of needing experience before you were hired to gain experience frustrated us all. Now, young and cheap is the preferred hiring practice. Older workers are laid off and there is no natural flow of learning within companies. The young are no longer groomed by the older, more experienced worker. Training for growth is absent. It is part of nature that the young are taught by the old so they can move on and become the mentors to the next generation. The natural order may be discarded by economics and foolish business decisions, but we, as creatives, can keep to the path that nature demands.![mentor4](https://www.webdesignerdepot.com/cdn-origin/uploads/2011/10/mentor4.gif)
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.Plato had Socrates and you should be able to find someone who takes you under their wing… just stay away from mentors who demand you wear a toga! Did you have a mentor or mentor someone? Share your story with us!
Speider Schneider
Speider Schneider is a former member of The Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD Magazine and has designed products for Disney/Pixar, Warner Bros., Harley-Davidson, ESPN, Mattel, DC and Marvel Comics, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon among other notable companies. Speider is a former member of the board for the Graphic Artists Guild, co-chair of the GAG Professional Practices Committee and a former board member of the Society of Illustrators. Follow him on Twitter @speider or add him on Google+
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