mentoring from a n00bs perspective

Mentoring From a n00b’s perspective

Allison Sheren @allie_p

Sunday, November 10, 13

Who Am I?

Rails Girls DC Organizer

N00b

motivated learner

community lover

Mentor and mentee

First time lightening talker


There have been a ton of people

who have helped me learn


Everyone had the best intensions but some people were great to learn

from and some were not.


And that’s okay.


Here are my main tips for being an effective mentor


1. At the beginning, understand that it’s hard to know what

to ask and every word sounds like a foreign language


so encourage relentless curiosity

what is terminal? What is the command line? What is IRC?

Why should I not be terrified of GitHub?


2. Don’t go down the rabbit hole


I have no idea what you’re talking about

anymore and I’m now really scared of coding.


3. Understand if you’re not

understood


People learn from different people in

different ways. It’s not personal, it’s just the

brain.


4. The dreaded answer to “what I

should read?”


Give direction. Which book

should be read first, why, and

what should we be learning from

it


5. Don’t put your fingers on my

keyboard


Really really difficult, but if you can have the patience to explain and

say everything the person should type,

they learn more


6. Help celebrate the small stuff and motivate to do the

big stuff


Thank You!@allie_p

Lightening Talk:


Technology