Introduction
Takuya Tominaga (Full-Stack Helper), Representative Director/CTO of Leach, has acquired a badge on the online mentoring service "MENTA" and ranked in the top 5% of all mentors.
I moved from Kumamoto to Tokyo, went through life as a salaryman at Toshiba, started a business, and have been running every day with the mission of "Regaining Japan as No.1" in my heart. I feel indescribable joy that the know-how cultivated in that process, which I generously invested in the stage of MENTA, has taken shape in this way.
What is MENTA? — A Place where "Gift of Knowledge" Circulates
First, let me briefly introduce MENTA. MENTA is a platform where volunteer mentors specializing in various fields such as programming, design, business, and marketing gather to provide individual guidance and consultation to students (mentees).
- Delivering necessary hints to "people in trouble."
- "People who want to teach" find joy in sharing their knowledge.
The charm of MENTA is that it is a place where these two circulate well.
Over the past few years, centering on full-stack development, I have thoroughly verbalized the struggles, failures, and successes of client work and in-house product development, and continued to provide guidance on MENTA. As a result, I received happy voices from many people saying "It really helped" and "My thoughts became clear," and I feel that this feedback has been expressed in the form of badge acquisition and top 5% ranking.
Significance as Leach — "Circulate Knowledge and Create the Next 5%"
Leach Inc. has set a big challenge: "Make Japan No.1 again with Generative AI." As an engineer myself, while being chased by daily technology selection, architecture design, and team management, I keep thinking about how to return "individual knowledge" to the organization and transform it into new value.
As part of that, activities on MENTA had a very significant meaning.
- By outputting knowledge and know-how accumulated as an individual, I can polish my own thoughts more clearly.
- By touching diverse perspectives through online feedback, the breadth of thinking expands and the perspective rises.
- By teaching, I relearn myself, and ideas for new challenges are born.
Even when facing teams and products as Leach, I want to spread this virtuous cycle of "Teach -> Learn -> Practice" to the entire organization. This achievement is just a personal badge, but next, I expect Leach members to disseminate their expertise externally in the same way and return knowledge to the company.
Future Outlook — Aiming Higher and Continuing the Journey of Knowledge
While the number "top 5%" makes me happy, it also strongly makes me feel that "this is still just the starting line." The world of technology is progressing day by day. For example, even in the field of Generative AI alone, new frameworks and libraries are appearing one after another, and it is not easy to continue producing results in practice while mastering them.
However, continuing to search for my own answer every time I hit a wall — that process is the real thrill of being an engineer. Delivering what I gained in that process to someone else is the heart I have cherished through MENTA.
Going forward, as Leach, we will proceed with the following initiatives.
- Expansion of internal study sessions
- Brush up materials and slides cultivated in MENTA for internal use, and strengthen technical sharing among all members.
- Diversification of external dissemination platforms
- Expand dissemination, which has been centered on MENTA, to blog posts, note, YouTube, etc., and establish a place where more people can participate.
Message to Readers — "Don't Hesitate, Just Take the First Step"
Finally, to everyone reading this article. Perhaps you yourself want to "deliver your know-how to someone" or "learn technology," but are unable to take the first step. However, if aiming for perfection stops you from moving, just start with "small things you can do."
- Write one blog article.
- Try accepting questions online.
- Or try sharing your daily technology acquisition process on Twitter.
Even just that action can be a force that gently pushes someone's back, and it will lead to your own growth. I myself received unexpectedly great learning just by giving a little advice to the first few mentees on MENTA. That small step at that time resulted in this "top 5%" result.
That's why, let's move before getting lost. If you stumble, we at Leach will support you with all our might. I sincerely hope that your ambition and challenge will someday become a badge for someone else and give birth to the next generation of mentors and mentees. I hope we can weave such a beautiful cycle together.
Summary
- Achieved badge acquisition & top 5% on MENTA
- Joy of mutual growth born from outputting knowledge
- Circulate knowledge as Leach and aim for further heights
- Importance of taking the first step as an engineer without hesitation
Going forward, I will continue to challenge myself with "learning and teaching" in my heart. And as Leach, we will push forward with our colleagues to enliven Japan with the power of technology more than ever.
Thank you very much for reading to the end.