Mentoring - Intro

Recently, I was asked to act as a mentor for a junior level developer. It was a little awkward in as much as I hardly know this person - we've only briefly met, we're not working on the same team, and not even for the same company. I'm not even sure what to topics to mentor on.

Remembering back, one of the hardest things for me when I transitioned from a college setting to professional was learning how to stay current and continue to push my skill set forward. Until graduation, you're continuously being fed information and guided on what to learn. After, you need to learn to forage for yourself. Learning how to do this and where to look is where I thought we might begin.

Like any new relationship, I thought the best place to start was with a brief introduction, then see where I might be able to best help this new professional. Here's an excerpt of my introductory email:
(Introductory text..)

Just to give you some insight into my background, I've been professionally developing software for 12 years. Most of that time has been spent with Java/J2EE and web development and I have worked with many Java frameworks like Spring and Hibernate. I've also done some database work (both writing SQL and creating schema). Quality is one of my highest priorities. I encourage things like test-driven development, development wikis, automated builds, and the proper use of source control. As I learn more about what you're doing, I'm sure we'll find more instances where my experience will overlap with your work. If not, I read a lot of technical blogs and books and hopefully I'll be able to point you in the direction of some great resources.
Like I mentioned, the purpose of this first email was to just break the ice and offer a few topic areas where I might be able to offer guidance. We'll see where it goes....

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