You’ve read the advice a hundred times: “Find a mentor.” Everyone agrees it accelerates your career. And yet, when you look around your office or scroll through your contacts, you realize you have no idea how to actually make it happen.

You’re not alone. 96% of professionals agree that mentorship is important for career progression. But here’s the uncomfortable gap: 71% report not having one. That’s not because mentors don’t exist. It’s because most people wait for mentorship to land in their lap—and it rarely does.

The IT professionals who find mentors aren’t luckier than you. They’re not more connected. They approach mentorship differently. This guide covers exactly what they do: where to look, how to ask, and how to build relationships that actually move your career forward.

Why Finding an IT Mentor Feels Impossible

Before diving into solutions, let’s be honest about why this is hard.

The Formal Program Gap

Although 98% of Fortune 500 companies offer mentoring programs, only 37% of professionals report actually benefiting from them. Corporate mentorship programs often pair you with someone in a completely different department, with no understanding of your specific technical path. Getting assigned a mentor from marketing when you’re trying to break into cloud engineering doesn’t help much.

The “I Don’t Know Anyone” Problem

IT can be isolating. You spend your days troubleshooting tickets, writing scripts, or managing infrastructure—not schmoozing at networking events. If you’re working remotely, the isolation compounds. Your LinkedIn connections are recruiters and former classmates, not senior engineers at companies you admire.

The Fear of Asking

Even if you identify someone who could help, asking feels awkward. What if they say no? What if they think you’re only interested in what you can get from them? The uncertainty stops most people before they even try.

Here’s what changes that: understanding that good mentorship rarely starts with the word “mentor.”

What IT Mentorship Actually Looks Like

Forget the image of a wise sage meeting you weekly for career wisdom sessions. Real mentorship in IT tends to be messier—and more useful.

Informal Mentors (The Most Common Kind)

“In my personal experience, half my mentors didn’t even know they were mentors,” says Dennis Schultz, executive director at the Blacks In Technology Foundation. That’s not unusual. The senior sysadmin who answers your questions on Slack, the former colleague who reviews your resume, the speaker at a local meetup who gives you 15 minutes after their talk—these are all mentor relationships, even if nobody uses that word.

Project-Based Mentorship

Some of the best mentoring happens while working together on something real. The DevOps engineer who pair-programs with you on your first Terraform deployment. The security analyst who walks you through an incident response. You learn more in two hours of hands-on collaboration than in twenty “career advice” conversations.

Yes, some mentorship costs money. Platforms like MentorCruise connect you with experienced tech professionals for ongoing guidance (typically $100-400/month). Is it worth it? Depends on your situation. If you’re changing careers or trying to break into a specific niche with no contacts, paying for access to someone who’s already there can accelerate your timeline significantly. MentorCruise’s data shows mentees reach career milestones 2.4x faster than those studying alone.

Peer Mentorship

Don’t overlook people at your level. Someone transitioning from help desk to sysadmin alongside you can share discoveries, hold you accountable, and provide support that senior mentors can’t. They understand exactly what you’re going through because they’re in it too.

Where to Find IT Mentors

Now the practical part. Here’s where to look—organized from easiest to most effort.

Your Current Workplace

Start with where you already are. Look for:

  • Senior team members who’ve done what you want to do next
  • People in other departments whose roles interest you
  • Your manager’s manager (skip-level relationships can be valuable)
  • Former employees who left for roles you’d want

You don’t need to make it formal. Ask to grab coffee, shadow them for a day, or get their input on a project you’re working on. Many senior IT professionals remember what it was like to be earlier in their careers and genuinely want to help—they just don’t have time to seek out mentees.

One caveat: be thoughtful about internal politics. If you’re asking someone who competes with your direct manager for resources or recognition, that relationship could get complicated.

Online Communities

The IT world lives online. Some of the best mentorship happens in:

Discord Servers: Many technology communities have active Discord servers where senior professionals answer questions. The Odin Project for web development, various homelab communities, and security-focused servers often have experienced members who regularly help newcomers.

Reddit Communities: Subreddits like r/sysadmin, r/ITCareerQuestions, and r/cybersecurity have members who’ve been in the industry for decades. While you won’t get personal mentorship from a single post, building a presence—contributing helpful answers, asking thoughtful questions—can lead to DM relationships with more experienced folks.

Slack Workspaces: Rands Leadership Slack for management, DevOps Chat for infrastructure, and countless technology-specific workspaces create spaces for relationship-building.

The key is consistency. Don’t just lurk. Participate regularly. People mentor those they recognize and respect.

Mentorship Platforms

Several platforms exist specifically to connect mentors and mentees:

ADPList - Completely free. Originally focused on design, but now includes software engineering, product management, and broader tech roles. Over 38,000 mentors from companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and Google. Book sessions directly—no application required.

MentorCruise - Paid platform ($100-400/month typically) with longer-term mentorship relationships. Good for specific technical guidance or career transitions. Their data shows career changers are now 30% of their users.

Exercism - Free. Pairs you with mentors for code review and feedback on specific programming exercises. Excellent for building technical skills in a particular language.

SCORE - Free mentoring from retired executives. More relevant if you’re moving toward IT consulting, starting your own MSP, or building a tech-adjacent business. SCORE volunteers helped start nearly 60,000 businesses last year.

Professional Events

In-person connections still matter. Consider:

  • Local meetups: Search Meetup.com for groups related to your interests—Linux user groups, cloud computing meetups, cybersecurity gatherings
  • Conferences: Even if you can’t afford the ticket, many conferences have volunteer programs that give you access while you help run the event
  • Vendor training sessions: AWS, Microsoft, and other vendors often host free local events where you’ll meet others in your space
  • Professional organizations: Groups like ISACA, (ISC)², and local IT professional associations often have formal mentorship programs

The key at events: don’t just collect business cards. Follow up within 48 hours with something specific from your conversation. Ask a thoughtful follow-up question. That’s what turns a brief chat into an ongoing relationship.

LinkedIn (Done Right)

Most people use LinkedIn wrong for mentorship. They send generic connection requests to senior people and wonder why they never hear back.

What works better:

  1. Engage with their content first. Comment thoughtfully on their posts for a few weeks before reaching out.
  2. Make your request specific. “I’d love to pick your brain” is vague. “I’m preparing for Security+ certification and saw your post about breaking into security from help desk—could I ask about your experience?” is concrete.
  3. Offer something. Maybe you can’t help them professionally, but you can share an article relevant to their interests, connect them with someone they’d want to meet, or provide a perspective they don’t have.

For more on optimizing your profile for these kinds of connections, see our guide on LinkedIn profile tips for IT professionals.

How to Ask for Mentorship (Without Using That Word)

Here’s a secret: the word “mentor” can scare people off. It implies a long-term commitment when many professionals are already stretched thin. It also sounds formal and serious when most helpful relationships are casual.

What works better: ask for something small and specific.

The Informational Interview

“Could I ask you a few questions about your path to network engineering? I’m trying to figure out my next move.” This is low-commitment. It has a clear end point. Most people will say yes to a 20-minute conversation.

The Specific Question

“I’m stuck on how to approach X. How did you handle this when you were in this situation?” This is even easier to say yes to. And it often leads to more questions, more conversations, and eventually, a mentoring relationship—without anyone ever calling it that.

The Project Collaboration

“I’m working on building a home lab for learning Kubernetes. Mind if I run my setup by you?” Working together on something real creates natural mentorship dynamics. You’re not asking them to be your career guide—you’re asking for help with a specific thing. That help often expands.

The Follow-Up

One conversation doesn’t make a mentor. What matters is staying in touch. Send a thank-you note after your first conversation. A few weeks later, update them on how you applied their advice. Ask another question six months down the road. Mentorship builds through consistent, lightweight contact over time.

What Good Mentors Actually Provide

Not all mentor relationships serve the same purpose. Understanding what you need helps you find the right people.

Technical Skill Development

Some mentors help you get better at the work. They review your PowerShell scripts, teach you how to approach network troubleshooting, or walk you through complex Active Directory configurations. For hands-on technical growth, also check out Shell Samurai—our interactive platform for building Linux and command-line skills through real terminal challenges.

Career Navigation

Other mentors help you see the map. They know which certifications actually matter, which companies treat IT professionals well, and which career paths lead where. They can tell you if sysadmin-to-DevOps makes sense for your background or if you’d be better positioned for IT management.

Organizational Politics

Workplaces are political. Mentors who’ve been around help you navigate: how to get budget approved, who the real decision-makers are, how to advocate for yourself without creating enemies. This kind of guidance is hard to find elsewhere.

Networking Access

Sometimes the most valuable thing a mentor provides is introductions. They know people. They can vouch for you. They can get your resume in front of a hiring manager instead of lost in an ATS.

Psychological Support

IT work can be frustrating and isolating. A mentor who’s been through burnout, dealt with difficult users, or navigated knowing when to leave a job provides perspective. Knowing someone else has faced what you’re facing—and made it through—helps.

You probably need different mentors for different things. That’s normal. No single person can provide everything.

Red Flags: When Mentorship Goes Wrong

Not every mentorship relationship is healthy. Watch out for:

The Gatekeeper

Mentors who hint that you need to pay your dues indefinitely, who discourage you from pursuing opportunities they didn’t have, or who seem threatened by your growth aren’t helping you—they’re holding you back.

The Time Vampire

A mentor relationship should be balanced. If someone takes hours of your time giving advice you didn’t ask for, or expects you to drop everything when they reach out, the relationship has flipped in the wrong direction.

The Outdated Expert

Technology moves fast. A mentor who built their career in a different era may not understand current realities. The job market has changed. The tools have changed. What worked for them in 2010 may not apply in 2026.

The Wrong Fit

Sometimes the chemistry just isn’t there. That’s okay. Not every senior professional you meet will become a mentor, and that doesn’t mean you did something wrong.

Being a Good Mentee

Mentorship is a two-way relationship. Here’s how to be someone that mentors want to help:

Come Prepared

Don’t show up with vague requests for advice. Know what you’re working on, what you’re stuck on, and what specific input would help. Mentors want to see you’ve done the work.

Follow Through

If a mentor suggests something, try it. Report back on what happened. Nothing kills a mentor’s enthusiasm faster than giving advice that gets ignored.

Respect Their Time

Successful people are busy. Keep your requests reasonable. Don’t send long rambling emails. Don’t expect immediate responses. Express gratitude when they make time for you.

Give Back When You Can

As you grow, help others. Mentor someone earlier in their career. Pay forward what you received. The IT community benefits when experienced professionals invest in newcomers—women in tech who have mentors are 77% more likely to remain in the industry after three years.

Building Your Mentor Network Over Time

One mentor isn’t enough. As you progress through your career—whether you’re starting in help desk, moving into cybersecurity, or pursuing leadership roles—you’ll need different perspectives.

Think about mentorship as a network, not a single relationship:

  • Technical mentors for skill development
  • Career mentors for strategic guidance
  • Peer mentors for mutual support
  • Reverse mentors (yes, younger professionals can teach you things too—especially about emerging technologies)

Employees with mentors are 75% more likely to believe their organization supports career development. Mentored employees are twice as likely to report learning and growth opportunities. The investment in building these relationships pays off.

The Real Secret

Here’s what nobody tells you: the act of seeking mentorship—reaching out, asking questions, showing up—develops the exact soft skills that accelerate IT careers. Communication, relationship-building, initiative, professionalism. By the time you’ve built a few mentor relationships, you’ve become someone worth mentoring.

So start today. Don’t wait for a formal program. Don’t wait until you “deserve” a mentor’s time. Don’t wait until someone offers. Identify one person who knows something you want to learn. Reach out with a specific, small request. See what happens.

The worst case? They’re too busy to respond. You try someone else.

The best case? You start a relationship that changes your career trajectory.

Either way, you’re doing more than 71% of professionals who want mentors but never ask.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find a mentor if I’m completely new to IT?

Start with free platforms like ADPList where mentors specifically volunteer to help newcomers. Join online communities (Reddit, Discord) focused on beginners. Take a certification course and ask the instructor questions. The bar is lower than you think—many experienced IT professionals enjoy helping people just starting out. Your enthusiasm and willingness to learn can make up for your lack of experience.

Should I pay for mentorship?

It depends. Free options exist—ADPList, workplace relationships, online communities—and should be your first attempt. Paid mentorship through platforms like MentorCruise makes sense when you need highly specific guidance (breaking into a niche field), when you have no existing network, or when you value the accountability that comes with a financial commitment. Think of it like hiring a personal trainer: some people thrive with free YouTube workouts, others benefit from professional guidance.

How often should I meet with a mentor?

There’s no magic frequency. Some mentor relationships thrive on monthly hour-long conversations. Others work through occasional text exchanges and a yearly coffee. Match the cadence to what both of you can sustain. Consistency matters more than frequency—a 15-minute call every six weeks is better than an intensive month followed by ghosting.

What if my mentor gives bad advice?

Mentors aren’t infallible. They give advice based on their experience, which may not match your situation. Listen to multiple perspectives. Test advice against reality before committing. A good mentor relationship includes room for respectful disagreement—if someone expects you to follow their guidance without question, that’s a red flag.

Can I have more than one mentor?

Yes, and you probably should. Different mentors serve different needs: technical skills, career strategy, industry connections, emotional support. As you advance in your career, your mentor network should grow and evolve. The mentors who helped you get your first IT job may not be the right guides for your path to IT management.