Do you think mentorship matters more than online courses?

Both mentorship and online courses are important to the development of a developer, though they have different purposes. Online courses are also good when you want to learn organized content at your own time. They are step by step instructions and training, practice and theory, which are likely to empower you with the strong background in new technologies. In the case of beginners, courses might be the simplest approach to exposure to a programming language, programming framework or programming tool.

But mentorship is one step further as it is personal and contextual. A mentor does not merely impart knowledge, he or she helps you to navigate the real world, provides criticism of your work, and offers advice based on his or her own career experience. As opposed to online courses, mentorship will make you evade typical errors, know how in the industry, and have confidence in decision making. It is a question of putting knowledge into practice rather than merely gaining knowledge.

As a matter of fact, the combination of both is the most effective. Online courses can provide you with the basics fast, and mentorship gives you an opportunity to sharpen those skills and go in areas that books or videos cannot address, such as communicating, problem-solving, and developing the career. In that way, mentorship can be more important in terms of long term development and career achievement, yet online courses can be used to form the basis.