5 benefits of getting a Mentor
Mentorship can provide many benefits for mentors and their mentees (check our Statistics). Developing this relationship can help both parties learn new things, build their networks and grow as professionals. This article will discuss why having a mentor is essential nowadays and the five key benefits of having one.
Mentor and Mentee
A mentor acts as an advisor to a less experienced individual, known as their mentee. At UX Tree, our Mentors are highly skilled UX designers with a minimum of 3 years of experience in the field, often in Senior, Lead or Director UX positions. Our mentees are grads with a diploma or degree in UX, enormously enthusiastic about succeeding in UX, willing to learn and create magnificent projects.
Benefits of having a mentor
According to Indeed, there are 12 main benefits of having a mentor. I’ll highlight only five which are, in my opinion, the most important:
1. Mentors support growth
Mentors encourage their mentee’s professional development. This can be done by setting goals, ensuring they are achieved and giving constructive feedback. Mentors’ knowledge can help train and create a high-quality and productive UX designer. In fact, majority of our mentees have reported improvement in research, prototyping and design skills after finishing up with the Programme.
““As someone taking a leap in my career and entering the UX industry, I’m excited to be working with someone who has the knowledge and experience to share with me. Having a mentor to guide and help me develop within the UX space, I feel, will be paramount to my development. The best way to learn and grow is to have support from enthusiastic peers.” – Bria Mulholland (mentored by James O’Brien, 2021)
2. Mentors help make connections
Mentees can build their professional network with the help of mentors. When the mentee identifies professional goals, a mentor can connect them with potential opportunities or people who can help them. Mentor typically has more industry experience so that these connections can be beneficial for career advancement.
“This collaboration with a mentor is helping me to develop the roadmap of my career growth, moving along with me on every stage.
My mentor is providing me with examples, sharing articles, courses or books for me to learn. But most importantly, he is helping me create meaningful connections and access opportunities that were out of my reach because of his own experience in the field. And that is something that, as a self-taught learner, is extremely valuable and I couldn’t access before I join the UX-Tree programme.” – Ana Sevilla Martinez (mentored by Jamie Ryan, 2022)
3. Mentors offer constructive feedback
A trusting mentorship relationship enables honest feedback. By establishing trust, mentee understands that constructive criticism aims to build their professional growth instead of making them feel bad. On the other side, mentors can identify their weaknesses and help them to improve.
“The UX Tree Mentorship programme has been a great opportunity for me to develop my skills in UX while working alongside an experienced designer. Throughout the programme my mentor has been fantastic offering their enthusiastic support at every stage. The programme has been a great way to bridge the gap between education and the workplace. My confidence approaching job interviews grew while taking part and my mentor was always there with calming advice and reassurance. I would recommend this programme to anyone looking to continue their career in UX or who want to make the career switch to UX.” – Feargal Cassidy (mentored by Valentina Antunovic, 2021)
4. Mentors have relevant experience
When mentors share their successes, mentees can use them as an example to strive toward and replicate the steps they took. Mentors can also share the mistakes they made along their journeys. This is also valuable for mentees because they learn lessons about the mistakes’ negative impacts but don’t have to suffer the consequences themselves.
“The products I designed in college were all made from scratch so this programme was a great opportunity to redesign or improve an existing product. The work I produced will be a great addition to my portfolio and will increase the variety of my work. I learnt a lot about the UX process in relation to redesigning an existing UI and evaluating a design’s success.” – Karl McClelland (mentored by Katarina Hrgovic, 2021)
5. Mentors provide guidelines
For grads just starting their career, a mentor can help set guidelines on professional expectations. For example, they may clarify the role’s priorities and explain proper workplace behaviours. These guidelines can help the mentee establish appropriate work habits to focus and perform their job successfully.
“Taking part in the UX Tree mentorship program provided me with a great opportunity to undertake a design project under the guidance of an industry professional. The program provided me with an excellent opportunity to build my skillset, learn about the industry and create a detailed portfolio ready project. The guidance and expertise of my mentor was extremely beneficial and has helped me to develop a project that I am proud of. I am confident that the lessons I learned during the course of the program will benefit me greatly during my career as a UX designer.” – Dylan Reilly (mentored by Eoin Smith, 2021)
Back in the time, I’ve also been one of the designers who didn’t have the luxury of having a mentor and was looking for feedback from anyone in the team. Today, I feel that, in order to get successful or even to land your first job in UX – you need to have the appropriate knowledge about the workplace and all other things you can’t get from college.
Luckily, now we have UX Tree Mentorship Programme available for you.
Valentina
Valentina is the founder of UX Tree and a Design Manager at Vhi, with over 10 years of experience in UX. She completed her master's degree in UX at IADT in 2020. Valentina is deeply passionate about mentoring, helping junior designers grow, and is especially keen on strategy and UI design.