…not with mentors, and mentors. My company matches you up with a mentor (typically a level or two above you) and you meet with them a few times a year to discuss your career, reviews, future, and so on. This is awesome because we’re forced to meet and do the things that often get overlooked.

Aside: my second engagement since starting work was out in California. On the first day we meet with the client after lunch in a dark room with a PowerPoint presentation on all kinds of stuff I really have no familiarity with. I started doing that head nod, eyelids droop thing. My supervisor across the table from me noticed. Yup, you know that’s going in the review!

So, as I sit here at lunch with my mentor and I tell him this story he stops and says “haha! I’ve got a better story than that…” and proceeds to tell me about how he, too, once started to doze while talking with a client. Score.

That’s what mentors are for. When we see that review come up we can just chalk it up to “first time” and be done with it. No more stress!