I&#x27;m a software engineer a few years out of university who is going to be joining a
new company soon and want to make sure I&#x27;m successful. As part of that, I want
to find a mentor who doesn&#x27;t work for the company whom I can ask for advice.
Why am I looking for someone outside of the company? Mostly so that I can talk
to someone about the sort of insecurities, problems, and weaknesses that I&#x27;d be
afraid to reveal to anyone that might hve any input into a performance review.
Also, much of what I would want to ask advice on is about communication and
I don&#x27;t want to gossip to someone that is connected to whatever situation I&#x27;m
asking about.  There are a couple challenges I foresee with this:<p>1) How would I pursuade and motivate someone else to mentor me?<p>Is there a way I can pay them? Is there something I might have to offer them
in exchange for advice?<p>2) How would I convey a situation without breaking the confidentiality and trust
of my company?<p>Has anyone else done something like this? How did you go about it?
How can I find a mentor outside of a company?