A reflection piece on my journey of becoming a mentor and how the experience and my mentee have taught me valuable career and personal lessons.

Starting as a Junior Designer, Ackama provided the support I needed to rapidly develop my skills and reach where I am today. Now, having been in my role as a Senior Designer for over three years, I’d been feeling that there was no clear path forward to progressing my career. Honing my design skills further wasn’t going to progress my career, and I was feeling diminishing returns in personal fulfilment.

This journey began with a discussion with my manager at the time. As we explored different aspects of my role, we came to the realisation that I enjoyed both helping other departments better understand design, and assisting fellow designers in areas where I had strengths. This evolved into the idea of me becoming a mentor to a new designer that would be starting soon.

Initially, I was unsure, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised how much fulfilment I found in supporting my colleagues, and mentorship felt like a natural extension of that.

Rory was new to Ackama, and I was assigned as his mentor. Initially, our goals were to help him transition into a more digital and UX-focused role and to guide him through the random questions that inevitably arise when joining a new company. Ackama made the process really simple and easy for us – we’d meet once a week, with no pressure to formalise the relationship or process. This made it feel more organic and allowed us to shape it in a way that worked best for both of us, giving us a sense of ownership over the experience.

Am I worthy of the title ‘mentor’?

My first challenge came even before the first meeting began. Having struggled with low self-esteem growing up, my biggest hurdle was overcoming “imposter syndrome”. I knew I had to get over these feelings, otherwise it wouldn’t be a good experience for either of us. It took a few months, but once I worked through it, I realised and embraced that I still had things to learn, but also a lot that I could share with those around me, and support in their growth and development.

I noticed a significant boost in my confidence, particularly in how I spoke and carried myself in professional settings. This newfound confidence was a direct result of embracing mentorship and having regular conversations with Rory. These discussions not only deepened my understanding of the design process and the industry but also strengthened my belief in myself, my abilities, and how I communicate them.

What do our catch-ups look like?

We like to think of it as a chill weekly coffee – a chill session for us to chat about what’s happened in the week. It’s a half hour meeting where we talk about how we’re doing, show off any work, and go through any challenges we’ve faced during the week. This gives us opportunities to collaborate on any design work, discuss pros and cons of different ways to approach challenges, and to impart any experiences or knowledge that Rory might find helpful. 

I’ve found these meetings have provided a pathway for us to openly discuss and provide feedback to each other, actively reflect on ways we could’ve done things differently, but also celebrate achievements together. We come away from these meetings with valuable insights, learnings and progression.

Okay, but what have I actually learnt?

In our catch-ups as we worked through problems or challenges, I found that Rory and I would often revisit and go over both the core principles of design, and how to best manage clients. This helped to further solidify our grasp of and comfort with these concepts. By going through these often, I found my design work and client management skills got sharper, more considered and detailed, but I wasn’t necessarily spending more time trying to do that – it came naturally to me.

I continue to work on my soft skills. The process of mentoring is deeply rooted in communication – listening actively, providing constructive feedback, and helping to break down complex ideas in ways that make it easier to understand by adapting my communication style to what suits my mentee. This skill has proven to be beneficial not just in mentoring, but also in collaboration with colleagues, in client meetings, and communicating with the leadership team.

Rory and I share a similar mindset, but our approaches definitely differ at times. Being constantly exposed and open to new perspectives from my mentee has broadened my understanding of how to address design challenges. There’s no single way to approach things – instead, there are trade-offs to consider. Understanding and exploring these trade-offs is a powerful skill that Rory continues to help me develop. This is the beautiful thing about mentorship: it’s not just one-sided, and it’s a continuous stream of exchanging knowledge and experience. Through this mentorship, I’ve learnt so much from Rory from our collaborative sessions and I’m excited to continue the journey.

Do you like pudding?

Finally, this entire thought-piece wouldn’t be valid if the proof wasn’t in the pudding. I thought I’d end this by asking Rory to provide feedback on his experience with me in the form of a Yelp review just to flex that creative brain of his. Here’s what he had to say:

★★★★☆ 4.5/5

Great mentorship, high quality UX produce and service! Would recommend it to anyone who finds themselves in Melbourne and is looking for some local fare. I usually pop in once a week, and recommend the intermediate designer special – which has a nice blend of design experience, humour, and practical tips. Good atmosphere which feels collaborative and comes with a free side of productive feedback. Reservations recommended – Josh’s calendar can fill up fast with dog walks and client presos. Minus half a star for not being as spicy as I expected.

Looking back, it’s amazing to see how far we’ve both grown as designers. I’m not sure either of us thought we’d get as much from this as we did, but it’s worked out for the best. A note to end on, for anyone who is considering wanting to become a mentor, or have the opportunity presented to them, I couldn’t recommend it enough. It’s a chance to not only help someone else grow but also to deepen your own understanding and open up new avenues in your career.