> it's typically difficult to accomplish great things
> without mentorship and support.
And this is how I have seen it play out as I've mentored folks. When someone talks with others about the great things they are trying to accomplish (as opposed to people talk about great things they say they will accomplish) and listens for useful feedback, they not only develop a network of mentors, but they advance in their understanding of the task at hand.
When I was president of the local robotics club we asked people who were building robots to tell us what we wanted them to accomplish. In my case I wanted a robot that would respond to a voice command for a Diet Dr Pepper, go fetch it, replace stock if the refrigerator was low, and bring it back to me. When I started that quest in the mid '80s it was a pretty tall order. Some people just said "you're crazy, that is too complicated for a robot to do." But the people who were worth listening too asked good questions like "Is it important that the refrigerator is general purpose or can you modify it to make it easier for the robot to access?" That led to ideas like the "Giant Tube of Sodas" refrigerator idea where soda was put into the tube at the top, the tube is wrapped in cooling coils, the bottom is easy access for a robot gripper. The questions and the mentorship I received not only taught me about some of the things I didn't know (like inverse kinematics for robotics) but also how to ask about what the real problem was versus the apparent problem (using a "regular" fridge is a lot harder problem than a custom fridge for example).
The people who are successful, and incidentally develop strong networks, are the ones that share what they are trying to accomplish and listen to the feedback; while not being discouraged by the "that's a stupid goal" type feedback.
Building on that even, the most fun I have had at "networking" was listening to other developers talk about some of the problems they are working to solve in their jobs/areas of interest. Half the events I enjoy going to are partially motivated by "I wonder if so and so found away to fix x issue"
When I was president of the local robotics club we asked people who were building robots to tell us what we wanted them to accomplish. In my case I wanted a robot that would respond to a voice command for a Diet Dr Pepper, go fetch it, replace stock if the refrigerator was low, and bring it back to me. When I started that quest in the mid '80s it was a pretty tall order. Some people just said "you're crazy, that is too complicated for a robot to do." But the people who were worth listening too asked good questions like "Is it important that the refrigerator is general purpose or can you modify it to make it easier for the robot to access?" That led to ideas like the "Giant Tube of Sodas" refrigerator idea where soda was put into the tube at the top, the tube is wrapped in cooling coils, the bottom is easy access for a robot gripper. The questions and the mentorship I received not only taught me about some of the things I didn't know (like inverse kinematics for robotics) but also how to ask about what the real problem was versus the apparent problem (using a "regular" fridge is a lot harder problem than a custom fridge for example).
The people who are successful, and incidentally develop strong networks, are the ones that share what they are trying to accomplish and listen to the feedback; while not being discouraged by the "that's a stupid goal" type feedback.