Back in 2014, I was doing quite well. I played poker professionally, essentially living my dream. But my career had to stop abruptly for health and financial reasons.
I looked for a new dream and found coding. It went OK most of the time; I liked the nerdy aspect of it. But it also came with severe dips and challenges that seemed unsurmountable. I was on the brink of switching studies to something like art history because I had considerable trouble passing a course exercise. I also ran away from what seemed like an undoable challenge, e.g., giving a talk in front of a big audience or finishing a coding project that appeared to have lost its purpose.
What if there was a way to see the other end of the mountain when I was stuck? Luckily, a guy - whom I would consider a mentor in retrospect - showed me the way with the super-hard course exercise, and I didn't switch to art history after all. I also learned to actively look for coaches and mentors to solve particular problems, for example, when giving my first conference talk or getting top-notch contracts.
So, I know of the power of surrounding yourself with people who will lift you up and whom you can lift up, too.
And I'm blessed with what I have now, so I'm grateful for all the help I received during my journey in the tech space. Other fields I was engaged in can be more lonely. Poker is very competitive, obviously, with lonely wolves eating each other.
But being grateful is not enough. This is why I'm offering different ways to help you achieve your goals as a way to "give back to the world". As always, I'm trying to cover different budgets and needs, from free coaching to extended mentoring support.
You might have noticed that I use different terms when describing my services. Please read my article about it to understand my take on the other terms: Mentoring vs Coaching Teaching vs Consulting.
You can book calls for all the offerings below. If you are interested in extended support and prefer the safety of an intermediary platform between us, I also offer most of the services below at MentorCruise.com.
Free Group Mentoring
I'm offering two types of group calls that take place once a month:
Group Mentoring for API Builders and Integrators
Are you building or integrating APIs in your daily life and need some guidance around the API Puzzle? Let's get together and knock out those roadblocks! We can also discuss nerdy API stuff like API design patterns, integration approaches, security, networks, and whatever the development of APIs brings with itself.
Group Mentoring for Career Scaling
I want to help you achieve your bigger career goals. This is for experienced developers from Europe who'd like to get their personal top-notch contract soon.
If you are just starting and getting into Ruby or Rails, please also consider applying here and mention my name: https://firstrubyfriend.org/
Fastlane Coaching
Are you feeling paralyzed by the enormous task ahead of you? Need support with your day-to-day challenges? Here's a lightweight program to get your progress going.
- ✅ ~1-hour bi-weekly call; either directional or technical (think pair programming or discussion)
- ✅ extra session for skill evaluation and vision building
- ✅ monthly review session (e.g., PR, personal brand assets, etc.)
- ✅ support in Discord
Price: $330 per month.
This is more of a self-guided coaching program, so most tech stacks and projects (hard and soft-skill-based) should work just fine.
Project Deep Dive Mentoring
We are going deep on your project. You should be facing a technical challenge worth investing more time and resources into. Best suited for developreneurs and start-ups.
Plan includes:
- ✅ 1 short catch-up scoping call for the week
- ✅ ~2 hours of weekly pair programming
- ✅ 1 weekly PR review (~200 LoC PR; async or pair review)
- ✅ priority support in Discord
- ✅ (optional) 1 piece of content together (writing, video, podcast, streaming)
Price: $1500 per month.
Experience levels and tech stack I can support for this:
- Ruby and Rails (expert-level support for most types of projects)
- Python (web development, data engineering, machine learning, AWS/GCP; beginners/mid-devs)
- JavaScript/Node/React (beginners/mid devs)
- Java (beginners)
Individual Workshops and Sessions
The current selection for 1-to-1 or small group workshops on MentorCruise:
You can dig into them here: https://mentorcruise.com/mentor/RichardSteinmetz/
Consulting
This is where I help other businesses grow and succeed. I'm usually quite booked out, but I'm always happy to discuss your use case and see what I can do or recommend other top-notch builders who can do what you want.
FAQs
Can we work together? 🧑🚀
If you are interested in solving your tech problems and I'm psyched about your drive, then we are usually a match.
Still, we need to figure out whether I have the right experience to coach or mentor you through your challenges. So, the usual process is something along these lines:
- You explain your situation and motivation in some detail (in writing or video).
- Get to know call and mutual commitment if there’s a match.
- I propose a high-level plan for our collaboration.
- You decide.
- You pay.
- I provide a more detailed roadmap (if applicable).
- We work together until your goal is achieved.
How much can you support me? 🪖
Most of the support happens during the sessions. The sessions can be very hands-on in different formats, like:
- pair programming (XP or "over-the-shoulder")
- me coding, explaining, and showing useful stuff
- you showing some work, describing and asking
- or all of it together
Some collaborations are mostly directional and discussion-based. For example, students present their roadmap, clear up questions, and get directives and tips for the coming weeks.
In short, we prepare and shape the sessions to make the most of them.
When can you support me? 📆
Currently, extended sessions are taking place on the weekends. Short sessions are batched on CET evenings.
If you can't make a session for the week, please feel free to request to make up for it with a more extended session the week after or on one of the other days.
You will have a calendar link to book the sessions conveniently, and we can talk about any free time.
Can I take a break? ☕️
You can pause at any time for as long as you want. I would even ask you to pause the mentorship whenever you see that you can't make progress and get together for the sessions. Of course, it could also happen that I need to take a break, in which case you won't lose on coaching hours.
What about questions in between? 💌
I aim to respond within 24 hours to things that don't require much additional research. Sometimes, we might have quick chats and calls in between. However, from my experience, students make most progress on their own, and most support occurs during the actual coaching sessions.
What does it cost? 🤑
I have free office hours, so given availability, you could drive for free as long as you like.
You might also find me active in different communities (https://richstone.io/meet-rich)
I've done a lot of free coaching in the past and the present. I enjoy the process, the conversations, and the tech geeks I meet.
I also offer paid coaching to support folks with extended goals and challenges. These can be monthly subscriptions, or one-off sessions focused on a specific topic.
To get a sense of the different subscription and one-off prices, check the descriptions above or my profile on MentorCruise:
https://mentorcruise.com/mentor/RichardSteinmetz/
All of it is shapeable and discussable, though. So shoot me a message with your thoughts and ideas.
What do others say? 🤗
I have only heard good stuff so far. I've helped novices to get into tech, developers to level up, and entrepreneurs kickstart their SaaS projects.
You can check some track record of the reviews here:
https://mentorcruise.com/mentor/RichardSteinmetz/
https://www.codementor.io/@richardsteinmetz
Can I get a refund? 💸
You will pay for the collaboration once we have our initial matching conversations and a rough roadmap. Then, we'll create a more detailed roadmap and start working together. You will have a full week to decide whether you are ready for that trip.
Office Hours
You can hit me up during my Office Hours: