I did a talk on Coder Cruise last year called Mentorship Matters. It’s called that because I truly believe that mentorship matters and the talk is about the matters of mentorship. The agenda for the talk is:
In this, ever challenging world, having a strong set of mentors is key to your success. Building on the experiences and knowledge of others is the only way to even catch up, much less get ahead. And you need to think beyond career management and think about technical, personal growth, growing your network and all sorts of dimensions as you are thinking about mentors. Secondly, mentoring someone else can be the most rewarding experience in your life. When should you take on mentees? What are the questions that you need to be asking them? How much of your time should you give up? And so on… In this talk, we’ll dive into why you need mentors, how to select mentors, how to approach them and how to work with them with case studies from real life. Then we’ll dive into the other side of the coin and how you should work with others when approached to be a mentor.
I hope you enjoy the talk and I’m looking forward to your comments!
I’ve been speaking at a lot of different events lately, and I keep having to send over a bio—sometimes short, sometimes long. To make life easier (mostly for me), I’ve collected a few versions here. Feel free to use whichever fits best for your needs.
BTW – these were all updated on April 2nd, 2025. This is mostly for me but also for you to know how old these are… 🙂
Micro Bio Passionate soul who gets his kicks solving problems with deep-fried awesomeness. Currently cooking up solutions at Microsoft.
Short Bio
Josh Holmes is a passionate technologist who gets his kicks solving problems with deep-fried awesomeness. He works at Microsoft as an Architect in the Industry Solutions Engineering organization, helping customers build innovative, AI-driven solutions. A frequent speaker at national and international conferences, Josh brings a blend of technical depth, design thinking, and business insight to topics like emerging technologies, cloud architecture, AI, and user experience. He’s also a longtime community builder—founder or leader of groups like the Great Lakes Area .NET Users Group, the Ann Arbor Computer Society, and part of the founding team behind CodeMash. You can find him online at joshholmes.com or reach him at josh.holmes@microsoft.com.
Longer and more self serving Bio
Josh Holmes is a passionate soul who gets his kicks solving problems with deep-fried awesomeness. He currently works at Microsoft as an Architect in the Industry Solutions Engineering team, where he partners with customers to build forward-thinking solutions that blend AI, cloud scale, and real-world impact.
Prior to this, Josh served as a UX Architect Evangelist at Microsoft, focusing on educating partners and developers on rich application experiences. Before joining Microsoft, Josh worked as a consultant with SRT Solutions, leading diverse projects across industries—from Fortune 500 companies to agile startups—often stepping in as the technical leader guiding teams toward delivery success.
Josh is a frequent speaker and panelist at major software development events such as VSLive, Basta, Software Development Expo, and The Rich Web Experience. His topics range from cloud architecture to mobile, AI, and user experience, all grounded in real-world lessons and production-tested wins.
Community is in Josh’s DNA. He’s helped launch and lead several user groups and tech communities including the Great Lakes Area .NET Users Group, the Ann Arbor Computer Society, and the founding committee of CodeMash.
When he’s not on a stage or writing code, you’ll likely find Josh blacksmithing, watching Forged in Fire with his daughter, or walking the course with a golf club in hand.
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