I'm a designer with about 1.5 years experience doing solid commercial work. I work hard and can present and prototype my own work. I'm in a fast growing design team - 6 at last count. The guy heading the team (my boss) is a well seasoned UX consultant and has produces the kind of quality of work I aspire to, and has good design selling skills.
Ideally I'd like this guy to mentor me. Being relatively young and inexperienced means I have a bit of difficulty choosing the best path sometimes and would like to have someone close I can bounce my ideas off and get a recommendation as to which is the best course of action to follow, why its the best, and why the others are not.
Someone who I can trust will not just advise me to work harder because it is in their best interests, but because they know it will make me a better designer.
Without telling a story, I don't believe my boss will do this. We don't have a great relationship: I receive very firm, curt direction when I'm under him on a project. No discussion.
There is no-one else there that has the skills I aspire to. (Of course, I'd also like that warm, fuzzy team feeling from sharing & growing together.)
I know its hard to give specific advice here as there is so much about my personal situation that would need to be communicated in order to make it clear; however
- Am I being a bit of a wet blanket and expecting too much from my superiors?
- Being honest in my next interviews at other companies about wanting a bit of mentorship, do you think I have a chance of finding someone like this or is it less likely I'll find someone who can mentor in a design team?
- If so, where have others looked and found?