The Mentor Effect

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What separates career-changing advice from everyday guidance? The difference often lies in both the wisdom itself and the intentions of those sharing it. 

Professor JRod takes a detour from his usual CompTIA certification topics to explore something equally valuable for tech professionals: the transformative power of mentorship and pivotal advice. Drawing from his personal experience, he shares three pieces of guidance that fundamentally changed his professional approach. First, the unexpected revelation that "IT is part of communications" highlights how technical skills must be paired with clear accountability and transparency. Second, the strategic shift from asking for time off to confidently informing employers preserves professional autonomy while maintaining respect. Third, recognizing when documentation protects your interests creates crucial professional boundaries.

Beyond specific advice, Professor JRod delves into the more nuanced art of distinguishing genuine mentors from those with hidden agendas. True mentors, he explains, prioritize your growth even when delivering difficult feedback, while others merely use mentorship as a vehicle for their own advancement. This discernment becomes crucial as professionals navigate increasingly complex workplace dynamics. Perhaps most powerfully, he emphasizes the responsibility of "paying it forward" – using your experiences to help others avoid pitfalls and sleepless nights, creating a cycle of support that strengthens entire professional communities.

Have you received transformative professional advice? Professor J-Rod invites listeners to share their stories at [e-mail], continuing the conversation about how mentorship shapes our professional journeys. Join the discussion about finding those rare individuals who truly look out for your best interests and learning to become that person for others.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Music Music Music Music Music Music Music Music
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Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hi and welcome to Technology Tap.
I'm Professor J-Rod.
In today's episode, we're goingto talk about mentors and
what's the best advice you'vebeen given.
Let's get into it.
Hey, welcome to Technology Tap.

(00:56):
I'm Professor J-Rod.
For those of you who don't knowme, my name is Professor J-Rod.
I'm a professor ofcybersecurity and I like helping
students pass the CompTIA A+,network+ and Security Plus exams
, and usually this is what thispodcast is about.
But every now and then I liketo dip into other topics, and
today we're going to dip intoadvice that you've given and

(01:20):
mentorship.
So what are the best pieces ofadvice you've gotten?
I've gotten three.
I've gotten a lot, but I'lltalk about three.
The first one was many, manyyears ago, when one of my first
jobs that I've, corporate jobsthat I've ever had, you know,
working in an office nine tofive, right Monday to Friday,

(01:40):
and that was and you might findthis strange and that was and
you might find this strange thatIT is part of communications,
right?
And that means you have to be agood communicator to work in IT
.
And you need to be a goodcommunicator to work in anything
, I feel, but you need to beespecially need to be a good

(02:01):
communicator in IT.
So what do I mean by that?
Well, you need to tell peoplethat something worked or
something didn't work right.
You need to tell something that, oh, I'm going to do this, or
I've tried that, or I'm going todo this later, or I haven't
gotten into that, like justnormal basic communications,
especially in IT, because itcould hurt you in the end.

(02:26):
And you know, I used to workwith this company and this one
gentleman older gentleman toldme that he says you know,
communication, it is part ofcommunications and you have to
be a good communicator.
You have to know how to write amemo this is back when they
didn't have emails, right.

(02:47):
You have to learn how to pickup the phone and call somebody
and say, hey, you know this iswhat I did, this is, you know,
this is what's happening.
You have to learn how to takeaccountability, because nobody
in IT likes somebody who says Ididn't do that when everybody
knows that you did it right.

(03:08):
So it's good to you know tocommunicate something that
didn't work right, you tried ita bunch of times say, oh look, I
tried it, I tried it, I don'tknow what's wrong, and then
maybe somebody else out thereknows how to fix it or can guide
you into getting it fixed.
That used to happen to me a lot,especially when I was younger,
you know, 19, 20 years old.

(03:28):
21 years old I don't knowanything about working in an
office what do I know about thatbut it took me, you know, a
couple of years to understandthat concept and very grateful
for that advice.
Did get yelled at a lot, butstill grateful for that advice.
Did get yelled at a lot, butstill grateful for that advice.

(03:50):
And I like to tell my studentsyou know that, that you know
that stuff, you know that thathappens, in that it's part of
communications.
I like to tell my students allmy students know that.
I like to tell them that theother advice that I've gotten
was I had something happen to mewhere I was promised a
promotion and I didn't get it.

(04:11):
And so the person who spent theyear telling me that I'm going
to get the promotion then toldme I wasn't getting the
promotion, wanted me to write anemail saying that I didn't want
the promotion.
Wanted me to write an emailsaying that I didn't want the
promotion.
So I reached out to a mentor ofmine, a really good guy.
He told me don't write thatemail.

(04:32):
He said what could happen lateron is if you ever complain like
, oh, this place never gives meany leadership opportunities,
they can turn around and say, oh, but I gave you this
opportunity.
But look, you sent me an emailsaying that you didn't want it.
So he told me do not send theemail.
And I did not.
And the person contacted me acouple of times asking me to

(04:56):
send it and I said, yeah, I'mgoing to send it, but I never
did because I took his adviceright.
I didn't want.
You know that.
You know.
Later on down the line, they say, oh, you don't want to do
anything, you just, you know,you just want to coast.
No, I wanted them to know thatthat I was into it, I really
wanted the position.

(05:16):
So I didn't into it.
I really wanted the position.
Um, so I, I didn't sign it andthe last thing that I did piece
of advice that I have is so ifyou really, really, really and
this is, you know again, this isjust, it's not all, might not
be all it related this will workin any function.
And this was by really goodfriend of mine, another guy who

(05:37):
I consider a mentor, a lot ofthe stuff that he has taught me
the years that I worked with him.
I say it in the class and he'llprobably be happy that I do.
That Is if you want a day off.
And if you really need a dayoff, don't ask, just take the
day off.

(05:58):
Just tell them I'm going totake the day off.
You know you do the right thing.
Don't do the no call, no show,but just tell them I'm taking
the day off Wednesday.
You don't tell them.
Can I ask can I have the dayoff on Wednesday?
Because he told me and I'llnever forget he told me then
you're giving them the option totell you no when you say, hey,

(06:18):
can I have the day off onWednesday.
And then he said you know, whenyou do that, it opens up for
them to tell you no.
And then what are you going todo, right?
So you just tell them hey, I'mtaking the day off.
When I did my dissertationdefense was on a Tuesday and I

(06:38):
just wrote I'm not.
You wrote I won't be coming inon Tuesday.
I'm doing my dissertationdefense.
They didn't ask if I could takeTuesday off, because what if
they told me no, right?
So I just said I'm not comingin on Tuesday and the class that

(07:05):
I had, even though the classwas in the afternoon and
dissertation was in the morning,I wanted to take the day off
because I knew if I didn't passthe defense yeah it was I was
going to be so broken, but if Ipassed, I wanted to celebrate,
right.
So, um, that's, that's, um, oneof the things that.
So I decided to go that route.
So, but let's talk aboutmentorship first.

(07:32):
To me, I think it's veryimportant to have mentor, not
just one mentor, but mentorswith an S.
But you have to have, you haveto find a mentor that is looking
out for you.
Right, I've had.
I have a couple of mentors now,pretty good ones.
But I have mentors in the pastof people who I thought were my

(07:53):
mentor and you know, then theyend up not looking, not really
looking out for you.
They end up looking out forthemselves.
And those are people who youhave to um, cut right Once you
realize that you were you knowyou're supposedly mentor doesn't
really want to look out for you.
Uh, you know you.

(08:16):
You just have to cut them off.
If you can't cut them off fromyour life for whatever reason,
what I do is I just ignore anyadvice that they give me because
the trust has gone.
But if you have truly goodmentors, you listen to what they
say.

(08:38):
I'm very, very fortunate to haveone really, really good mentor,
um, and he can, he, I can go tohim and and talk to him about
anything.
And you know what?
Sometimes he he yells at me andsays like, like, why did you do
that?
I wouldn't have done it thatway, you know.

(09:04):
And he explains to me why.
And again, he's doing itbecause he cares, right, and
there's people that you knowthey have their own agenda, they
have their own thing that theywant to do, and you're part of
that clog that needs that.
They need to make the machine,the machine work for them.
So they pretended to be yourmentor and then they're not.

(09:25):
So it's very, very important tonot only be a uh, have a mentor
, but be a mentor too.
Right, because you know there'spart of being a mentor is.
Is sharing your experienceswith other people right, which
is something that I love to do.
I love sharing my experiencewith anybody who would listen.

(09:54):
I had a student once that he gota ticket.
It was like a very particularticket, you know, tracking
ticket and he had said that hecouldn't.
You know.
He said, oh, can I talk to youafter class?
And I talked to him after classand he said, oh, I'm not going
to be in here tomorrow.
I got this ticket.

(10:15):
That's driving me crazy, Ican't sleep.
And I said, well, what's theticket about?
And he explained to me what theticket was.
And I had the exact same issue,like years back, and I told him
exactly what to do.
And and he went to court thenext day.

(10:35):
Text me say oh yeah, everythingis fine.
Wow, he said that that ticketwouldn't let him sleep for days.
You know, as you know, as hehad to go in to court, like the
closer the day went, the lesserhe slept.
He thought he was going to bein big trouble.
I'm like, no, no, this is asimple thing.
Do this, this, this and this.

(10:56):
And he did it.
And he was fine.
And he's like, wow, I wish Iwould have talked to you before.
I said but you see, this is whysometimes you don't want to
tell people your problems.
Who's been through that exactsame issue?
And they can help you and youdon't have to go through

(11:19):
sleepless nights right Wondering, you know what's going to
happen.
You know if you have that, youknow that one mentor, who or
somebody there who looks out foryou, yeah, I love being a
mentor.
I like sharing the wealth.
You know you have to give back.
You know, as a Hispanic male, Ifeel an obligation to give back

(11:46):
to the community, to mycommunity and to you know, the
students, you know, because Ifeel like it's an obligation for
me.
I've had people help methroughout my years and I feel
like I have to give back.
I want everybody to succeed.
I don't, you know, I don't wantto be the one that succeeds and

(12:08):
then I don't care about anybodyelse.
That's very selfish.
I've had people help methroughout my years of coming up
and I feel like it's anobligation for me to help other
people.
The next generation of peoplewho want to do IT, you know,
want to do CompTIA, want to dotheir doctorate, their graduate
degrees, and you know I feellike it's, you know, I have to

(12:33):
help them Hoping, and I do tellmy students or people that I
mentor, you know.
Now you have to help otherpeople, right?
So that's that comes to thehard part, right?
Helping other people do thesame thing that you, that you do
, right Cause that's important.
We have to help each other,especially in this, this weird

(12:55):
climate that we're going throughhere in the United States.
So it's important to network,it's important to find people
who would help you, people whowould give you good, solid
advice, people who don't haveagendas, you know, people who

(13:16):
just generally, generally wantto help you, because there's
people that are.
Believe it or not, I used to bevery cynical, but I realized
that there's actually people outthere who really, really want
to help you and you know it'sokay, it's okay to let them help
you, it's okay, it's not thatbad.
You'll find people that don't,you know, say they want to help

(13:36):
you and then they, you know theyhave their own thing and those
are the people that you, youwant to weed out of your life.
Sometimes you can't.
Um, you know there might besomebody in your family, there
might be somebody who you workwith, who you, you know, no
longer consider them a mentorand you still, you still have to
talk to them, and that's okay,but you just don't need to take

(14:00):
their advice.
Be cordial, be respectful, butyou don't have to go to them
saying I got a problem.
I want to bounce off you.
No, that doesn't need to happen.
Find good mentors.
You need to find good, solidmentors, people who will help
you, and you should be fine ifyou do that.

(14:24):
So, yeah, so if you have anyadvice that you picked up along
your life doesn't have to be ITrelated, though it could Send me
email, though it could send mean email professorjrod at
gmailcom that'sP-R-O-F-E-S-S-O-R-J-R-O-D at

(14:46):
gmailcom and let me know, like,what kind of advice you have.
Or, if you have a mentor andyou know, what has that mentor
done for you?
You know one or two things.
Hopefully I get a couple ofresponses.
If I do, you know, it would benice to read them.
I would love to read them.
Of course, if you give mepermission, I won't say any
names, but I think it'simportant that, as a community,

(15:09):
we share what we know right andshare where we've gone wrong and
where has life turned left andthose people who have gotten out
of their way to help you get onthe right path, because life
ain't easy, guys.

(15:31):
You know, when you're a kid youwant to be an adult, but when
you're an adult you want to be akid, because life is easier
when you're a kid, when I seethese kids say I can't wait to
be a grown-up and I'm likereally, no, you don't.
It's tough and you need to findthose people who have your best

(15:53):
interests at heart and will lookout for you, and people who you
can talk to, you and people whoyou can talk to.
That's going to be it for today.
Thank you everyone.
If you can send me an email atProfessorJRodcom, we really
appreciate it.
Until next time you.