If you read this blog at its home at standalone-sysadmin.com, you might have seen the LOPSA logo on the bar at the right. If you’re not familiar with it, LOPSA stands for the League of Professional System Administrators, an organization of people who have banded together in order to increase the professionalism of our industry.

One of the things that was brought up often at PICC was the idea that people in our field (and many others, for that matter) need mentors, both when they’re starting out and as they mature. As we grow and become senior administrators, many of us have the need to become mentors, too. LOPSA wants to bring those people together, and is forming a structured mentorship program to do it.

The mentorship page is brief, since the program is just getting started, but we are looking for people who are interested in being mentors, as well as people who would like to have mentors.

It won’t take a lot of your time, and a mentor relationship can be very rewarding. If you’re a junior admin and you don’t have a mentor, there is a lot of experience that you can’t get from a manpage. Having someone help to guide you when you’re stuck can be a life saver.

Sign up by emailing volunteers@lopsa.org and let them know that you’d like to take part in a mentorship.

Also, I don’t know if they read this blog, but my mentors when I was just starting out as an admin were Randy Elkins and Brett Carroll. I wouldn’t be half the administrator that I am today without their guidance. Thanks, guys.

Has a mentor made a difference in your life? Please, feel free to share your story, and it doesn’t even have to be about system administration. Mentors come in all walks of life.