That's a harsh way of putting it, but you've got a point there.

 

You're describing drones. Transformers have always been portrayed as living robots; ones who think, feel, learn and most importantly choose what they want to do with their existences. If they were simply their programming, they never would have rebelled against the Quintessons in the G1 toon; there never would have been an uprising against Functionism in IDW1. Dinobot would never have been able to integrate with the Maximals in Beast Wars etc. etc. etc.

Additionally, even in the G1 toon, when Vector Sigma created the Aieralbots, Silverbolt had to learn to overcome his fear of hights, and the other aerialbots had to learn how to not be arrogant jerks. They weren't static, they evolved and changed as characters in response to the things they experience.

Also, "being programmed" doesn't mean they're programmed with everything. We can quite clearly see in every incarnation that some bots are more knowledgeable and skilled than others; if they were programmed as easily as a computer, then someone like Wheeljack wouldn't be notable, as anyone could have the scientific knowledge programmed into them to become a brilliant inventor.

Finally, a lot of times this "programming" comes from extremely ancient sources; source from far, far prior to the current civilization on cybertron; society evolves, new jobs are invented and older jobs are made obsolete. Even if they were in the habit of preprogramming everything from the inception of the planet, there's millions of years of societal development, interaction with alien species and other phenomena that would make a lot of that data outdated and necessitate a learning period for nearly created individuals.

 

Eh.. Yes & No. It's true they've always been portrayed at thinking and feeling, but it's also true they've been subject to programming going all the way back the G1 cartoon and Marvel Comic. In an advanced robotic alien civilization, I don't think those two would equal a mere drone. Those have been present since g1 cartoon also.

As such, I stand by my statement that mentorship is unimaginative.

 

I have an idea. I wouldn't say it's a great one, but it's better than nothing. What if Cybertronians forbid their pupils from downloading information directly into their brain modules as a way to testing them? If you want a certain job, you need to prove your dedication to said job by paying close attention to everything your mentor tells you about it. A short attention span won't help you accomplish anything. If you want to be a medic, allowing yourself to be distracted for even a nano-click during an operation can cost your patient their life. If you want to be a cop, turning away from a suspect during a stakeout will prevent you from catching them in the act. If you want a job that involves a lot of driving, you need to remain focused on the road if you don't want to run someone over or crash into something. Prove that you'll be able to do these things by watching and listening to your mentor. Again, maybe not the best explanation, but it's something.

 

If Cybertronians could just download data, and that being sufficient, then there really wouldn't be a point to them learning anything from experience or training. There were mentor characters to other characters in Transformers fiction before, as have there been instances of characters training in one form or another to master something. Because having characters just download how to do something is incredibly boring. Turning the idea of mentorship into an institutionalized thing in this world was more imaginative when it comes to Transformer "families" than pretty much anything we've gotten save for MAYBE branched sparks.

 

One thing to point out is that just because Transformers are made out of technology doesn't mean they are automatically masters of it all. When IDW2 took place, the ability to upload knowledge to a brain, at least non-harmfully, could easily be beyond their capabilities. Even in IDW1, shadowplay had to be invented, and even then was not without its drawbacks.