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  • Tessa talked about how to be a mentor and how to be a mentee.

Main Take Aways

  • Main problem isn’t teaching people how to code it’s getting them jobs
  • It feels good to be a mentor. @tessak22 calls this “Selfish Acts of Selfishness”.

Things I’m Going to Do

I’ll continue to try and be a good mentor to my directs and hopefully start including some local talent.

My Raw Notes

  • Main problem isn’t teaching people how to code it’s getting them jobs
  • Most Junior web design jobs require experience
  • Where does this come from?

For Organizations

  • Why you should hire a junior dev
  • Takes time away from you
  • Mentoring is good for team morale
  • Finding good people is hard
  • It might be better to hire someone with good communication and train them up
  • Junior developers are full of passion and drive to succeed
  • Diverse teams are the most successful teams

How to get started

  • Write better job descriptions
  • Instead of x years of experience include things we would like them to know and have needed skills
  • Do not require involvement - some people do not enjoy teaching others
  • Managers are not mentors - Mentees need to have an open relationship with someone they can confide in and relate to.
  • Open lines of communication - Ensure there are methods
  • Use mentees as mentors

As a developer

  • Grow your network
  • It feels good to be a mentor. @tessak22 calls this “Selfish Acts of Selfishness”.
  • Forces you to step ourside your comfort zone
  • Lets you improve your own skills
  • Their successes feel like your successes

Where to find mentees

  • Colleges or schools - universities, tech colleges, high schools
  • High School kids love to learn it
  • Code schools or bootcamps
  • Local organizations or groups
  • Hackathons
  • Conferences

Tips for a good mentor

  • Boost their confidence
  • Guide their career path
  • Be available
  • Share resources with them
  • Share book recommendations
  • Working coding examples - Many people need to do in order to learn. Give metees working code examples.
  • Love coding sessions
  • Code reviews - never tell them they did something wrong - instead ask their thought process.
  • Lead a study group

Tips for being a good mentee

  • Set expectations
  • Be respectful of mentors time
  • Come prepared with an agenda
  • Mentors are volunteers
  • Express your appreciation