Mentorship comes in many shapes and sizes. It could be informal, as you gain experience in your team and become the go-to person for particular areas of the system you are working on. Perhaps you are asked to introduce these areas of the system to all new starters. This is mentoring. It could be more formal, as part of a wider scheme within your organisation. Whatever shape it takes if you are;
- offering support and guidance to colleagues
- on technical or non technical matters
- because you have more experience
You are a mentor!
prag I've had the fortune to mentor a number of colleagues in my time, and below are five of the key things I've learned along the way. Hopefully they will help you if you are mentoring someone.
Make time for your mentee This is 100% THE most important point on this list. Your time is precious. We get that, but that is why it is such a valuable thing to offer to your mentee. If you can't make time, perhaps rethink if you are the best person on your team to be mentoring. The more time you can devote to your mentee, the more valued they will feel. It's a given your mentee is feeling a degree of imposter syndrome. I still feel it on an almost daily basis. They may be scared to ask you for help. Take time to ask if they are ok. If they repeatedly say yes, probe a little further with open questions. Offer your help. Offer it again. And again. You'll eventually wear them down ;)
Work through some code together. If they have written some code to implement a feature, go through it with them - kind of like a pre-code-review code review. The process of them explaining the code to you will tell you a lot about how much they understand what they have done. This will also give you a fairly clear idea of where there strengths and weaknesses are. This gives you an idea of where to focus your efforts to help them improve.
Be clear on your expectations of them. If you are expecting them to present back their work to you on a regular basis, make this clear. Set a schedule that is concrete to give them something to work to. Give them a deadline. Wooley suggestions like "show me when your ready" introduce ambiguity for both parties and should be avoided.
Keep tabs on those soft skills
The best engineers are not always those that know most about the language or framework. Computer science will only get you so far in this industry! The best engineers are able to compromise, are pragmatic and are able to influence and organise their team to work more collaboratively towards achieving success. So, help them to hone those skills. I still swear by The Pragmatic Programmer as a great introduction to these non-computer-science skills that will set your mentee on the right path.
Lead by example
It's easy to offer advice, but as Robyn S said back in 1993, "Actions speak louder than words!" The best way to demonstrate the wisdom of your suggestions to your mentee is to follow them yourself. If you have development standards, be sure you are following them to the letter. You must live and breath them. If you espose the virtues of repairing broken windows in software, make sure you are tidying and repairing in your contributions to the code.
Set your ears to listen
What would a top 5 be without a sixth point! Make sure you listen to your mentee. Sure, you have an idea of what you think they want to achieve or where they want to go, but is it really what they want? What are they telling you? Fully listen when they are talking to you. While they are talking, don't worry about how you are going to respond. Wait until they finish speaking. Then think. Then speak. Don't jump in and cut them off mid sentance. Wait until they have finished speaking. Then think. Then speak!
Hopfully one or all of those help you as you are mentoring those in your organisation. If you have any tips to add to the list, put them in the comments below.