alexkehayias:

Spoiler:

Project based mentorship is the future. I built http://mentorship.p2pu.org to connect people who want to learn (to code, design, whatever) or mentor by working on really cool projects.

A Promise

I’m a self-taught coder and I’m proud of it. I now make a living doing what I love: building cool shit. I would not have gotten to this point as fast as I did without the help of amazing mentors. In January I made a promise to help anyone who came to me looking for a mentor to help them learn to code. I’ve met some amazing people as a result and have tried my best to help make good on that promise. 

I haven’t done enough. So I’m doing more because I believe in this.

I teamed up with P2PU, a non-profit, helping people learn from their peers online. I shared my story with them, what I believe in, and they gave me an amazing opportunity to team up with them in Berlin, where I built the P2PU Mentorship platform. 

Project Based Mentorships is the Future of Learning

Unfortunately, just matching people with mentors based on what they are learning doesn’t work. I know this because I did it. By hand. Interviewing everyone, matching people together, sending intro emails, etc. It’s scary for most people. You agree to work for an indefinite amount of time with someone you don’t know.

A better way to do mentorships:

• Create a project, something cool you want to work on
• Collaborate with people looking to learn or mentor
• Work on the project and learn along the way

Here’s an example:

1. I want to learn to build interactive websites
2. I create a project on P2PU Mentorship to build a cool site I’ve been dying to make
3. Mentors with the skills I want to learn join my project and help guide me
4. I work on the project and learn by doing with awesome mentors

Or if you are a mentor:

1. I’m working on something really cool, but I need help
2. I create a project on P2PU Mentorship to work with people who want to learn and I will help guide them kind of like an academic advisor
3. Learners join my project and we work on it together

Projects are the perfect opportunity to make mentorship happen online.

• You’ll know what your getting into (you join project you’re interested in)
• They are have a logical end (when the project is finished)
• Learners get to produce something they are proud of, work with experienced people, learn new skills
• Mentors benefit from more people working on their project, fresh ideas, and, of course, the joy of helping others

If you believe in online learning and helping others please join

If this sort of thing gets you excited, please join and help me pay it forward. Start a cool project and help make a difference.

Also if you are looking to learn Python and web development, the mentorship site itself is a project you can join led by yours truly. Check it out on github.