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Well I kinda agree on 1, but there are also people who did not do any effort and just pick the easy way.
So I guess its important to be good at judging people who ask for help so you can respond correctly. And not become the grumpy senior that has helped to many lazy juniors and lashes out at even the good ones now. -
My mum always said a good teacher can make or break your education.
So I never understood why when you leave school people seem to think your education is over.
We’re in a field where you never stop learning and for what ever reason people get ignorant of the fact that not everyone starts off at the same threshold of knowledge.
If people aren’t willing to put the time in to be a mentor, then they shouldn’t be in a position to mentor to begin with. -
We got this intern, useless guy. Whenever I see he’s not working, he says he’s stuck at some task. First thing I ask him, did you check online, knowing the answer will be no. Instead of calling for help, he sits there waiting for someone to help him. Sometimes for hours.
Sometimes he sits behind me looking at me work. Thinking he’s taking notes or something, but he says he likes to watch the pros work.
I don’t think I’m going to let him continue here after his time us up. -
@rutee07 this junior isn’t getting paid by us, as he’s through NAV (Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration) because he can’t find jobs anywhere else. I think it’s more of his work attitude.
We had one guy through NAV, a photographer that wanted to become a developer. He actually got quite good, often contacted me after work hours with some problems he was encountering with some online course he tried. He genuinely wanted to to learn. I gave him harder and harder tasks, and he solved them. Often it was support tasks I couldn’t be arsed to do, because it was on an old site that predates me, and it would take a lot of my day to debug it. I told him this is the URL, this is the ticket, here’s the access details and git. Figure it out. Exactly as I would have to. He succeeded -
Cool, I always take extra time to teach them and always tell them every inch of things they are dealing with. Even I don't get bothered if they ask some queries when I'm not on in the office. I actually learned many things by just guiding them and not to mention satisfactory feeling when they learn by themselves and come with the better solution.
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I feel this is pretty idealistic. You blanket statement saying always assume they've already checked online.
Majority of the time (in my experience at least) the answer I get back is no. I'm not even talking about complex issues either it could be something as simple as they can't figure out how to make their laptop not go into sleep mode when they close their work laptop. Immediately followed by how to make the screens extended as opposed to duplicating display.
Then have one of the other juniors standing behind us the whole time waiting while on his phone, so once I'm done I ask what his issue is and he goes the samething can you walk me through it. Literally wanted to punch that guy in the dick.
And no.... I'm a junior too.
when your code is a mess but everything work out in the end
When you keep getting +1s on a rant you posted a month ago.
Go big or go home.
Please don't make junior developers feel they're a burden.
Have you ever googled "how to mentor junior developers"? It's quite mind-blowing how many articles, talks and panels are on this topic. And yet still junior developers are not feeling welcomed in their companies.
Yup, you guessed it, we also have something to add (based on our own experience):
1. Asking for help is not easy. Please don't blow juniors off by telling them to read docs when they ask a question. Always assume they've read it and did a sprint to solve the problem. They ask you, because they see you as a mentor and really need your help. If you can, spend more time with them and guide through the entire problem solving process.
2. Please don't think "I learnt it this way so you should too". If you're in charge of teaching a junior developer, don't expect them to be a carbon copy of yourself. Because even though in your opinion your approach is more "pro", they might not be there yet to use it properly. And last, but not least:
3. Of course, juniors will compare themselves with seniors on their team. And there'll be moments they feel so guilty and so afraid that they cost the company too much, that they need training, and supervision, or are between projects and are not bringing in any money, and they'll fear that their company regrets hiring them. Make sure they don't feel like a burden. As juniors, we often
have this misconception what is expected from us.
Dear tech companies, please set very clear expectations and tell your juniors you're happy. Don't get us wrong here. We don't expect unicorns, roses and pats on the back from companies. We do understand- this is business, and at the end of the day we all are here to make money. To do so, companies need to make smart investments. Junior dev with a great assistance, planned support, and a clear training program will become a great asset. It really is as simple as that.
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