Leveraging mentors to uplevel your career | Jules Walter (YouTube, Slack)

Walter describes product work as a collection of skills rather than something learned in one leap. He recommends choosing a specific skill to develop. Narrowing the focus makes practice and feedback more useful than trying to improve everything at once.

He says communication changes as responsibilities grow. Clarity and conciseness remain useful, but different audiences care about different parts of the same story. Prepare the explanation for the person receiving it rather than assuming one presentation works unchanged everywhere.

Walter contrasts a broad question about how something went with asking about a specific capability. The listener then knows what kind of observation would help. A precise question can make feedback easier to give and easier to use.

He says people may hold back if they do not feel comfortable giving constructive feedback. Thanking them and showing that the input is useful helps keep the conversation open. This is about inviting honest observations, not requiring the recipient to agree with every comment.

Walter looks for a mentor who is good at the specific thing he wants to learn and good at explaining it. Excellence at a job does not automatically mean someone can teach the practice. Look for both subject experience and a useful way of sharing it.

He recommends preparing something concrete a mentor can help with. Explain the situation and the question rather than requesting a vague conversation. A clear problem lets a busy person judge whether they can contribute and reduces time spent reconstructing the background.

Walter says he takes notes and brings previous conversations into later ones. Tell the mentor how the advice was used and look for ways to help in return. The aim is an ongoing relationship rather than a sequence of disconnected requests.