On the Engine Yard blog there's a new post written up by Elizabeth Smith talking some about the mentoring of PHP developers and how being both a mentor and a mentee is a good thing for you and your development life.

Some believe programming is a science, with well-defined rules that if properly followed always give you the same outcome. Some believe programming is engineering, practical application of some kind of pure science such as math. I personally feel programming is a craft. That word often makes people blink a few times, especially those steeped in logic. Craftsmanship means applying specialized knowledge with skill in a practical manner.

She goes on to apply more of the ideas of "craftsmanship" to development work. She notes that she is where she is today because of the people that took the time to mentor her and guide her towards being a better developer. She talks about the networking options mentoring can provide as well as the official PHP Mentoring project that she helped to found.

At the end of the day, I don’t work because I have to, I work because I want to, because I need to improve the technology that people use every day. The tools and techniques used today won’t be the ones used 20 years from now, so I don’t believe in holy wars over languages, operating systems, or coding standards.