do you agree or disagree with this discussion and what do you like or dislike about the discussion? Aligning with a professional mentor allows you to gain valuable experiential knowledge that you may not otherwise get just from your own experience. A professional mentor will often be someone with more time and experience in their professional field who is willing to impart their wisdom onto you and help foster your growth and development. A mentor can also provide important connections in the professional world. I am in the field of data analytics, and having a professional mentor for me means having someone who can sharpen my skills, provide feedback to help me improve, and guide me on additional learning goals that will allow me to become a competitive and effective analyst. I was given the opportunity to break into data analytics because of the help of a mentor in the first place, so mentors can help guide you through a path to success based on their own experience, because they have been where I am now.

The most important criteria I will use in selecting a mentor will be my mentor's skillset in data analytics, as I need to ensure that they will be able to continue teaching me skills that I would not think to learn. Ideally, I would want a mentor who has been in my shoes, so that they can relate to me and help guide me towards success in my field. I would also want my mentor to be accessible and willing to spend time with me helping me develop and correct various skillsets. Based on these criteria, I will select my current boss as my professional mentor. He has already been a powerful force in fostering my growth as a data analyst. He sets realistic goals that challenge me to improve my methods while helping me provide effective results to our project stakeholders. He advocates for me$,$ and provides constructive feedback in a way that helps me learn from my mistakes. As he is currently in a leadership position, it would also be helpful to get his wisdom on climbing up in the data analytics career field.