Stop Training, Start Mentoring

Training and mentoring aim one goal: to improve your skills in a well-defined way. Although both aim for the same goal, they use very different ways. One may fit your needs, but not the other.

Here are the main differences between training and mentoring.

Duration

The first noticeable difference is its length.

Training takes two or three days. Each day has essentially 6 hours of content.
Mentoring takes four to eight months. Each week, you have to invest at least three hours.

⇒You can do mentoring in parallel to your daily workload. Ideally, your company sponsors you with time and money. Due to the extended run-time of mentoring, you often tackle complicated topics from different perspectives. Each new perspective improves your understanding.

Methodology

Mentoring adds new components.

Training consists of theory and practice. Theory means that I explain the content and answer specific questions. Practice means that the participants do (too few) exercises, and I discuss their solutions.
Mentoring consists of theory, practice, and, of course, mentoring.
- - - - Videos explaining the theory and the examples
        
        Videos explaining the exercises and the solutions
        
        Active community in forums discussing the theory and practice
        
        Live Q&A session each week, about one hour. They are recorded.
        
        One-to-one mentoring at the end of the mentoring program
        ⇒Mentoring adds new components to the learning process. You can selectively watch complex topics and study the exercises and their solutions as often as you want. Furthermore, you get additional videos and articles to deepen your understanding. Thanks to the recorded Q&A sessions (each Friday) and the active C++ Foren, you will gain precious Feedback from the active C++ Community and me.

Overall Content

This comparison shows it crystal clear. Mentoring provides way more content and gives way more flexibility.

Modernes C++ Mentoring

"Fundamentals for C++ Professionals" (open)

"Design Patterns and Architectural Patterns with C++" (open)

"C++20: Get the Details" (open)

"Concurrency with Modern C++" (open)

"Embedded Programming with Modern C++": January 2025

"Generic Programming (Templates) with C++": February 2025

"Clean Code: Best Practices for Modern C++": May 2025

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Training has a well-structured plan. Making detours or discussing additional topics is challenging because I have to drop other important features. This is only possible if all the participants agree. In sum, I teach 3 (days) * 6 hours = 18 hours.
Mentoring also has a well-structured plan, but I have the time to discuss additional topics with all or individual mentees. In the end, I never have to say no regarding these detours. This is very beneficial for the mentees and me. In sum, I 39 (weeks) * 3 hours = 108 hours.

⇒In a three days class, I can teach around 18 hours of C++ content. In a 4 – 8 month mentoring, you have 50 – 100 hours of C++ content. About 15 – 20 hours of the time is the Q&A session. Additionally, there is an active C++ community integrated into my mentoring program.

Number of Participants

The number of people in training is limited, but not in mentoring.

The ideal participant’s number of training is between five and ten. In general, I accept no more than 15 participants.
Mentoring works the other way around. At least 100 participants work very well.

⇒The mentoring program benefits profoundly from the active community. The community makes the Q&A sessions and forum discussions very valuable.

Interaction

With mentoring, there is a new dimension of interaction.

In training, you mainly interact with the trainer. This interaction ends when the training end.
In mentoring, you can interact with me directly in the weekly Q&A session. Additionally, you can ask your questions in the forums. The forum is still available after the mentoring program.

⇒Mentoring helps you to answer your challenges when you have them. You can use the weekly Q&A session or the forum.

Integration

How can you integrate training or mentoring into your private and business commitment?

For training, this is easy. You have to dedicate the three proposed days to the class.
You may wonder how a four to eight-month mentoring can be integrated into your private commitment (family, holiday) and business commitments. This is easy. All content is available offline. The Q&A sessions are recorded, the forum is online, and the videos, articles, and slides are always available. Additionally, I make a week without additional content every four or six weeks. Therefore, it is pretty easy to catch up with the content. This helps you to make the mentoring beside your business workload or your family commitments.

⇒One of the key ideas of my mentoring program is to integrate it into your usual workload. You have to dedicate at least 3 hours to your future.

Sustainability

Sorry, I have to say this, but classical training has serious issues.

After my three-day training, you are, like me, pretty exhausted. You learn so much that it is quite probable that you will forget a lot if you cannot use it in your daily work. The main issue we talk about a new feature only once in training.
In mentoring, you will experience a new feature a few times from different perspectives. Additionally, you can consume the theory more than once, discuss this feature in the forum or the Q&A sessions, and practice it in the exercises. In the end, you get the feature’s deeper and more sustainable impact.

⇒The impact of mentoring is way deeper. You encounter new features a few times and from a different perspective. You do this on the theoretical and practical levels. Additionally, you have an active community aiming for the same goal.

Costs

I can only partially answer this question. Most of the time, your company hires me for a class. Therefore, I assume you will participate in one of my open training. For my four-month mentoring programs, you have to pay the same as for the corresponding training. For my running mentoring “Fundamentals for C++ Professionals“, there is no corresponding training I provide. I cannot give a 20 days training.

Of course, I will also provide a mentoring program for entire teams or companies for a team or company price.
⇒The costs of 3 days class and a 4-month mentoring are comparable.

Resume

You may assume it from the comparison. After almost 20 years of training and mentoring, mentoring is my favorite. Additionally, I assume that your company supports you with time and money. Only when you need a quick and concise refresher, and you are a pretty seasoned C++ developer, training may be the right choice.

Here are all the facts in a table:

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