I didn't have much success hiring a mentor. The people I wanted to give money to were too busy, or didn't want to take my money for personal reasons (being held accountable for me actually learning, feeling I couldn't afford it, etc.)

If I were to learn programming over again, I'm not sure if hiring a mentor would be a strategy I would pursue.

There are several online learning services that will pair you with a mentor who has already demonstrated that they can and want to mentor you. You pay more but it may be worth it.

I happen to work for one such company (thinkful.com) but there are others; coursereport.com is a great resource for reviews and comparisons.

I'm learning to code, but every person on Codementor I've contacted hasn't responded.