In this episode, we speak to recent graduate, UX designer and Co-founder of Cmd+J, Anshuman Dhar who shares how mentorship can help newbies as well as seasoned designers.
Listen Here:
References
Anshuman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ans_humane
Anshuman’s website: https://www.anshumandhar.com/
Cmd+J: https://www.cmdplusj.in/
Anshuman’s blog on best practices for Mentees
Highlights:
Anshuman talks about how he moved from chemical engineering to UX design
Angie and Anshuman discuss how the definition of mentorship is changing and the power of community mentorship.
We note how design institutions have easy access to mentorship in the form of a rich network of different kinds of mentors to learn from.
Anshuman describes the gap that cmd+j seeks to fill
- Mentorship being centred to design in tech
- Not everyone is comfortable cold-emailing a potential mentor
- Mentorship is concentrated in educational institutions and self-taught designers might not have access to this network of mentors
- Mentorship localised to bangalore, hyd etc where tech is thriving
Young designers are looking for ‘someone like us’ who made it.
Mentorship can be unstructured and more freeflowing.
Mentorship is about giving back to the community.
As a mentee, assembling your own mentors by finding people who resonate with your unique journey.
Don’t go after titles of companies, but the journey the mentor has been through.
Best practices of reaching out to a mentor online
- Send a reminder email an hour before
- Be punctual – show up on time and stick to the window you promised before hand
- Know what to say in reply – tell me about yourself
- Be authentic and real in your answers
- Do your research
Mentorship can also give direction – it can act as a life guidance.
How mentorship trumps comparison and competition in the design community.
Mentors act as a window into organisations and companies that designers want to work for.
Design Lota 