How To Find A Mentor In Game Audio
What Is Mentorship?
A mentor is someone experienced who helps guide you along your learning journey.
They are there to give you general advice, feedback on your work and answer any questions you have enabling you to learn and grow.
Generally, the mentor and mentee meet once to twice per month to talk about the latest challenges and how to overcome them as well as your successes and failures. By connecting with a mentor you’re committing to putting in the work and holding yourself accountable to reach your goals.
Where Can I Find A Mentor?
There are two main paths for getting a mentor:
Finding your own mentor on the Audio Mentorship Portal
Applying to official mentorship programs
One of the best ways to find a mentor is to simply find and approach one through: https://www.gameaudiolearning.com/mentorships
Just remember to be respectful and ask if they would be willing to give you some of their time.
This community is incredibly forthcoming and if people have time available then they will usually be happy to give some of it up to help newcomers.
There are also a number of different programs most of which run occasionally depending on the supply of mentors and demand for mentees. You might find that you’ll have to wait for some programs to open as they have a limited application window.
Mentorship Programs
Limit Break Mentorship (for underrepresented people, please do not apply if you do not match the criteria): https://www.limitbreak.co.uk/
The Game Audio Diversity Alliance (for underrepresented people, please do not apply if you do not match the criteria): https://gameaudiodiversityalliance.org/
Getting The Most Out Of A Mentorship
Since it’s not that easy to get a mentorship slot, it’s a good idea to try and get the most out of it. The first step is to schedule regular catch-ups and prepare for each one. Think about:
What do you want to get out of this (where do you see yourself long term)?
What questions do you have?
What topics and areas would you like to cover?
What is going well in your life/career and what do you want to improve?
Participate actively and ask questions, be curious and don’t be afraid to take the wheel and steer the conversation; the mentor is there for you after all.
Here is a great short list of some more tips to improve your mentorship experience:
https://torch.io/blog/a-cheat-sheet-for-getting-the-most-from-your-mentor/
