Everybody working in my company has a mentor. Even the president of the company. It’s a good system that works out well in several ways. Together with the mentor you set your goals for the year and he or she helps you keep track of the progress you make in that year.
You can also discuss the more personal side of work with your mentor. For example how you are coping with the workload and the travelling. He can be a mirror and give you some perspective on your situation.
Some perspective is what I really needed in January after I had a bit of a breakdown. I started having severe chest pains, pains in my heart and I suffered from hyperventilating. Seemed like I was getting a bit too stressed out. I had a good talk with my mentor and decided to take things a bit easier. It’s not always easy to do this as your own view on the situation is often not very clear.

Last friday I spoke to him again. We’re both working at the same customer, so it’s easy to meet up. We set some goals for this year and talked to each other about what it is like to work for this customer. It was interesting to hear how he felt and that he has the same experiences as I have.

We also talked about how it is to be a consultant for our company. I was happy to hear he has similar experiences. I told him I find the life quite hard. You’re away from home at least 10 hours a day (including the travelling, if you’re lucky) and several times a month you have to leave work early to take a 3 hour trip to the main office. Often not returning home before 11pm. One of those meetings in the beginning of the week completely messes up your week and you’re left exhausted until the weekend comes around and you have some time to sleep in. And usually you’re not done when you finish that day of at least 10 hours. You have to study and work on company projects too. My mentor told me my experiences are rather common in my company. Good to hear, I thought I was just being weak.