> what I see is that such people shift away from teaching/mentoring as it takes time/effort that their manager does not reward
I don’t think it’s that simple. I work with tons of talented engineers who put a huge amount of effort into tasks that management doesn’t care about - like refactoring our codebase.
In contrast everywhere I have worked management has cared about being able to level up new developers and under performers (assuming it’s a skill deficit).
To add to this one of the most soul crushing tasks I’ve had to do is to manage out good people who are under performing.
If I could say “BeetleB, I’m pairing you with Joe for the next 6 months - I don’t care if your output halves but I need you to bring him up to speed or we have to let him go” and you could train him up - well you would be worth your weight in gold.
I don’t think it’s that simple. I work with tons of talented engineers who put a huge amount of effort into tasks that management doesn’t care about - like refactoring our codebase.
In contrast everywhere I have worked management has cared about being able to level up new developers and under performers (assuming it’s a skill deficit).