If tech organisations are to thrive in the future, then we must build in a culture of mentorship. Not just as a means of learning, but as a way of generating human satisfaction in the work we do. I believe in the power of stories – not just as a source of entertainment, but as a way of parsing our interactions with the world and contextualising our “purpose”. When I do something, I put it into the context of what the story is – which if you think about it, is just another way of saying, “Why are we doing this? What’s the purpose?” We mapped out the many different models that people use when trying to teach DevOps. We’ve narrowed it down to three approaches (and three stories) based on popular films that will be explained in this talk. Attend this talk to learn: Three approaches to mentoring that worked in the DevOps world A more effective way of teaching That mentorship is a transformative occurrence for people The absolute need for more of it

4. The Story of Mentorship
(and why it ma!ers)
@JohnContad

5. Australia’s leading property
website realestate.com.au

7. More than 600 engineers
in over 7 countries.

8. Hello! I'm
@JohnContad!
(Senior Systems
Engineer)
(Eater of things)

10. In this talk...
•Inspect: Read through our three examples of
coaching...
•Translate: ...As movies...
•Adapt: ...Write be<er adapta=ons.

11. WORKING
WITH
GRADUATES

13. DEV OPS
QA

15. 1.) Lexicons
2.) Context

16. Bildungsroman
noun, German
"Bildung ‘educa!on’ + Roman ‘a novel’."

17. “What is the story?”
=
“What is the narra!ve purpose?”
=
“Why are we doing this?”

18. "...we need someone
who can fight."

20. "Sink or Swim!" "Learn on the job!"

22. Pros:
Prep !me
Kinesthesis
Experience

23. Cons:
Pairing
Monoliths
Fidelity

24. Iatrogenesis
noun, Greek
"Nega!ve effects brought forth by a
healer."

26. "Let's modularize!" "More theory!"

29. Pros:
Repeatability
Flexibility
Autonomy

30. Cons:
Experience
Context-forming
Low morale

31. Koan
noun, Japanese
"A riddle without a solu!on."

33. Goals Means

34. #Goals
• A skill you learn
• A thing you build
• A person you can be

39. Koan
noun, Japanese
"A riddle with mul!ple solu!ons."

43. Pros:
Best of both worlds
Fastest way to context
Clear delinea!on of growth

44. Thank you!

45. TWIST.
ENDING.

47. A mentor doesn't need...

48. A mentor gives...

51. - Bruce Headey (A Revision of Set-Point Theory)
“…adop!ng non-zero sum goals, those which enrich one's
rela"onships with others and with society as a whole…increase
the level of subjec!ve well-being.”

52. Be who you needed
when you were
younger.

53. Thank you!
(For reals this !me)
@JohnContad
@REATechBlog