Thoughts on Carly Ayres article, Why junior designers struggle to find their footing.

This is a must read from Carly Ayres; a first-hand look at why junior designers are struggling to find mentors. Mentorship is completely broken because people tried to commototize it and now the constructs of how we practice our craft is changing every waking moment. Sabina Cabrera, the designer interviewed in the piece, shares an interesting observation…the people who used to mentor are trying to survive:

“We’re entering an era where a lot of people just haven’t been mentored, so they’re like, ‘Why would I do that for someone else?’ She’s not wrong. Senior designers today are more likely to be navigating layoffs than onboarding interns. Even those inclined to give back are operating in survival mode. ‘If you’re a designer today, you’re not chilling,’ she says. ‘You’re like, ‘What’s all this AI stuff? I don’t have time to educate tomorrow’s designers while trying to learn new tools and also make sure I don’t get laid off.’”

In times like this I reflect on the words of St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time and always start with the person nearest you.”

Take time to mentor one person. If all collectively do that, this is how mentorship scales.