Dynamics of 1-on-1 Mentorship

Why should I get a designated mentor?

It's just really nice having a dedicated person who really cares about you and your growth. The hard part is finding one and maintaining the relationship as this dynamic is inherently very one-sided.

How do I get a personal mentor?

I recommend these 2 resources:

• [Masterclass] How To Build Deep Relationships Quickly In Tech
• "How do I find the best mentor for me within my company?"

As mentioned before, the default state for a mentor <-> mentee is one-sided with the mentor providing a lot of value for the mentee with the mentee providing little in return. Your overall goal with your mentor is to correct that and bring balance to the value exchange.

• When you have a mentor in the workplace, you generally return the favor by offloading their work. They delegate their lower-complexity work to you (it's low complexity for them but medium to high for you), which gives you scope while allowing them to scale themselves. This is a healthy mutually beneficial relationship.
• When you have a mentor outside of the workplace (or even within the workplace but outside of your immediate organization), things become a lot harder. Be creative and proactive around how you can provide value to them. It can be something outside of work: Maybe they're really into League of Legends and it turns out that you're incredible at the game and have been playing since you were in high school.

What should I do as a mentee in a mentor-mentee relationship?

On top of the aforementioned return of value, I recommend this Q&A: "How do you get the most out of mentorship?"

Agree with Alex, if you can find someone who is able to dedicate their time to be your mentor, that's awesome.

That being said, I wouldn't underestimate relationships with peers or leads who are not officially your mentor (see this Taro post for more context).