Though nearshore software engineering teams are highly educated, qualified, and certified, they can still benefit from the continued education of having a mentor.
The Value of Mentorship
Pairing an engineer with a senior developer mentor can make a world of difference starting on day one of onboarding. The strength of mentorship lies in its duration, so the longer an engineer can be a mentee, the more chances they have for growth and professional development.
Howdy accelerates employee learning by pairing senior engineers with new recruits in the onboarding phase. In addition to spending quality one-on-one time with mentees to advance coding skills, mentors help define the company's short-term and long-term goals.
Mentor Profile: Pesu Iglesias
A seasoned veteran in the world of software engineering, Pesu lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is an Engineering Manager at Howdy. He’s also very active in the mentorship program, helping junior engineers improve their skills and professionally advance at the company.
“What we mentors do is a mixed role. We work every day with a team but also have designated blocks of time each week to help hone individual mentee skills.”
As a mentor for nearshore engineers, Pesu’s responsibility is more than expanding a mentee’s professional knowledge. Mentors have the unique ability to help shape the problem-solving skills of the next wave of engineers.
“It’s rare that a situation comes up and it has a this-or-that solution. We teach mentees that in almost every scenario, you have multiple ways to resolve the issue, and it helps to keep an open mind.”
Bridging Cultural Gaps
Mentors are more than sources of information and professional wisdom. They can also enhance remote team member communication, involvement, and engagement by acting as the bridge between local and nearshore offices. Integration of your teams is a necessary component of nearshore hiring, and one of the best ways to blend your teams seamlessly together is to establish mentorship programs at your company.
Essentially the fulcrum of team integration, mentorship is a highly impactful but narrowly focused relationship that can accelerate your entire team’s communication, coordination, and proficiency.
A Two-Way Street of Knowledge
Both mentor and mentee have the chance to further their professional knowledge and insight while engaged in this mutually beneficial relationship. Mentorship is a powerful engine for rapidly accelerating engineer growth, which directly ties into the health and development of your business. Use mentorship to help guide your engineers to skill mastery and set your business on a path for long-term success.
