By John Mathieu, Managing Partner, Allari
When I came up in IT, you didn't jump levels. You earned them.
You started as a junior programmer, sitting next to someone who'd been doing it for a decade.
They didn't just show you syntax; they taught you how to think — how to troubleshoot, how to question assumptions, how to avoid rework.
IT was also about learning the framework of the particular product you were responsible for — understanding not just how to code within it, but how that system behaved, where it broke, and how business processes depended on it. You weren't just building software; you were learning the DNA of a platform.
When you proved you could handle that, you became a programmer. Everyone would take you out for a drink to celebrate your promotion.
It was a great day — not just because of the title, but because everyone around you knew you'd earned it.
As a programmer, you'd watch the consultants work directly with the business — sitting with users, understanding their frustrations, designing fixes that made someone's day easier. You couldn't wait to get to that level.
You didn't dream of a bigger title or paycheck — you wanted to help a person directly, to see your work make a real difference. That was the goal.
"IT was comforting in a way.
You knew what you needed to know and didn't worry about everything outside that circle. Your responsibilities were defined. There was structure, clarity, and mentorship built into the system."
Then you worked under a senior programmer — the kind who could trace a system failure by memory and knew which log held the real story. You didn't move up because of time served. You moved up because that senior signed off that you were ready.
Only after you'd built, broken, and rebuilt your share of code could you touch the business side — first as a junior business analyst, then as a business analyst, senior analyst, and eventually a junior consultant. Each step required mastery of the layer below and mentorship from the one above.
You had to present your solutions, explain your logic, and communicate it in a way that bridged the business and technical worlds.
The Traditional Mentorship Ladder
The path was clear:
- Junior Programmer → Learn syntax, frameworks, and platform DNA
- Programmer → Build, break, rebuild — master the technical craft
- Senior Programmer → Trace failures by memory, teach others
- Junior Business Analyst → Bridge technical and business needs
- Business Analyst → Own requirements, manage stakeholder expectations
- Senior Business Analyst → Lead complex projects, mentor juniors
- Junior Consultant → Design solutions, present to stakeholders
- Consultant → Own client relationships, drive strategic outcomes
Each level had a mentor.
Someone who'd been there, earned that level, and could vouch that you were ready for what came next.
What Broke
Then something shifted.
The apprenticeship model dissolved.
Mentorship became optional—something HR scheduled once a quarter if you remembered to ask. The ladder got replaced with a job board.
Here's what changed:
1. The Rise of the Generalist
IT stopped being about deep platform expertise.
Organizations wanted "full-stack" everything — people who could code, manage infrastructure, handle security, and somehow also design user experiences. Jack-of-all-trades became the ideal, and mastery became optional.
2.
Offshore Outsourcing Gutted the Middle
Companies sent the foundational work overseas. Junior roles disappeared. Mid-level positions vanished.
What remained were senior titles with junior pay — and nobody left to mentor the next generation.
3.
The Cloud Abstracted Away the Learning
You used to have to understand how a database worked before you could use one. Now you click "Deploy" and AWS does it for you. Powerful? Yes. Educational? Not really. People learned to use tools without understanding what those tools were doing.
4. Agile Removed the Structure
Agile was supposed to make teams more adaptable. But in practice, it often removed the scaffolding that mentorship depended on. Sprint planning replaced career planning. Retrospectives replaced one-on-ones. People learned to ship code fast but not how to think strategically.
5.
Retention Became a Joke
Why invest years mentoring someone when they'll leave for a 20% raise in 18 months? Organizations stopped building people because they couldn't keep them.
So they hired contractors, consultants, and "senior" engineers fresh out of bootcamps.
The result?
IT became a collection of individual contributors, each trying to figure it out alone.
What We Lost
When mentorship faded, we didn't just lose knowledge transfer.
We lost:
- Context — Why systems were built the way they were
- Judgment — When to optimize vs. when to rebuild
- Standards — What "good enough" actually means
- Career Paths — How to advance without jumping companies every two years
- Institutional Memory — The unwritten rules that keep operations stable
And most critically: We lost the ability to build leaders.
Because leadership in IT isn't about being the best coder or the fastest ticket-closer.
It's about knowing when to say no, how to communicate trade-offs, and how to build systems that outlast your tenure.
None of that happens without mentorship.
How We Bring It Back
Mentorship won't return by scheduling monthly coffee chats or assigning "buddies" on someone's first day. It has to be systematic. It has to be embedded in how work gets done.
Here's how you rebuild it:
1.
Make Mentorship Part of the Work, Not Extra Work
Don't create a separate "mentorship program."
Build mentorship into daily operations:
- Pair juniors with seniors on real projects
- Require code reviews that teach, not just approve
- Create knowledge-sharing sessions during regular work hours
2.
Reintroduce Career Ladders with Clear Milestones
People need to see the path:
- Define what skills/experience are required at each level
- Make promotions earned, not negotiated
- Tie advancement to demonstrated competency, not tenure
3.
Reward Mentors
If you want people to mentor, make it valuable:
- Include mentorship in performance reviews
- Give mentors time to mentor (don't pile it on top of full workloads)
- Recognize mentors publicly for developing talent
4.
Document the Undocumented
Much of mentorship is teaching the unwritten rules:
- Create runbooks that explain not just "how" but "why"
- Record decision-making processes, not just outcomes
- Build a knowledge base that captures institutional wisdom
5.
Slow Down Long Enough to Teach
If everything is always on fire, there's no time to mentor:
- Stabilize operations first (eliminate chronic issues)
- Protect dedicated time for learning and development
- Accept that short-term velocity might decrease as long-term capability increases
6.
Hire for Potential, Not Just Experience
Stop requiring 5 years of experience for every role:
- Invest in junior talent who can be shaped
- Create internship or apprenticeship programs
- Build your own talent pipeline instead of poaching from competitors
The Payoff
Rebuilding mentorship isn't charity. It's strategic.
Organizations that invest in mentorship see:
- Lower turnover — People stay where they're growing
- Higher quality work — Mentored engineers make fewer mistakes
- Faster onboarding — New hires ramp up in weeks, not months
- Stronger leadership pipeline — Future leaders are already in-house
- Better institutional knowledge — Context doesn't walk out the door
Most importantly: You build an IT organization that can think strategically, not just execute tactically.
The Bottom Line
IT lost mentorship the same way it loses everything else — slowly, then suddenly. We didn't decide to stop mentoring. We just got too busy, too lean, too focused on shipping the next sprint.
But if you want an IT organization that can do more than firefight, you have to rebuild the structures that create leaders.
That starts with mentorship. Not as a side project. As a core operating principle.
Because the people you mentor today become the leaders who stabilize, scale, and transform your operations tomorrow.
And that's not just good for them. It's good for you.
*Written by John Mathieu, CEO of Allari.
With over three decades in enterprise IT, John has seen mentorship transform operations — and watched what happens when it disappears.*