Mentor at work

[morefun]

I joined our mentoring programme at work as I'm looking to further my career and look for ways to progress using my skill set.

I was assigned a mentor who seems great, really enthusiastic and from a completely different part of the business.

The thing is, they have asked me to get involved in some of their projects. The projects themselves are definitely of interest to me, I am just unsure of how to proceed as I already have a heavy (dull) workload to contend with. Should I do these new projects on work time or do you think as they aren't my actual job, I should be doing them out of work hours?

Ask your mentor how to handle it, say pretty much what you have said here and ask for their advice.

If it were up to me I would look to clear a set amount of time in a regular slot during the working day to work on these projects. But I guess this would depend on your manager and your workplace as to if that is possible.

Are you salaried or hourly paid. If salaried then you manage your own tome and fit development projects around day job. Part of self development is to put additional effort into extra curricular activities. If you start pushing back on day job because you want to do them mentoring in work’s time, then that doesn’t show initiative.

You shouldn't take on extra work, no matter who from, without your manager's approval. Refer upwards, and let the manager and the mentor agree a solution.

Thanks. I'm salaried.

I think my manager will be fine with my taking these extra projects, so long as I can still deal with my original work. I will have a chat with my manager to make sure that this is okay.

Will you be getting paid extra for the extra work? If not, why on earth would you even consider it?

No, I wouldn't be paid extra and suppose it's just a way of developing and getting an opportunity to take the lead on something (my role at work is hard to describe, but it's a very straightforward support role and I often have great ideas which are turned down. Then someone more senior makes the same suggestion and everyone loves it!)

No, I wouldn't be paid extra and suppose it's just a way of developing and getting an opportunity to take the lead on something (my role at work is hard to describe, but it's a very straightforward support role and I often have great ideas which are turned down. Then someone more senior makes the same suggestion and everyone loves it!)

No, I wouldn't be paid extra and suppose it's just a way of developing and getting an opportunity to take the lead on something (my role at work is hard to describe, but it's a very straightforward support role and I often have great ideas which are turned down. Then someone more senior makes the same suggestion and everyone loves it!)

No idea why it posted three times 🙄

@GoshHashana having a mentor and taking on additional responsibility / developing new skills is a great way to progress in a good company. It shows initiative and willingness. It should be something that is different from your day to day role. Usually it doesn’t come with extra pay but if a good job is done then you usually get recognition and opportunities that you otherwise wouldn’t have got.
If you want to build a career and progress not everything is about money.

I agree, I'm not worried about the money for now. Just don't want to take the piss out of my boss by doing a load of extra work for someone else.

I think I will say yes to one project, and no to the other. The second one sounds very time consuming and has a deadline that's not far off. The first one sounds like I could do in my own time as it's quite creative (and I'm fairly experienced in artistic pursuits outside of work).

@morefun sounds like you’ve got a good approach to it. A successful mentor / mentee relationship is really beneficial - having an advisor and someone that can champion you to others. But it does take additional effort.