Pair-programming from a beginner's perspective

In this talk I discussed the challenges faced by junior and senior developers when working as a pair. During the session I considered the learning needs of developers on both sides of the skill spectrum and suggested a set of techniques which can be used to overcome the challenges faced by both types when working together to achieve a productive and enjoyable pair-programming experience.

Transcript

1. Pair programming from
   a beginner’s
   perspective
   Irina
   @irinabasrawi
   

   View Slide

2. The beginner
   Associate Software Developer at YOOX Net-A-Porter Group (3 months)
   ● www.net-a-porter.com : purchase path & customer accounts
   Technology Graduate at Net-A-Porter Group (12 months)
   Test Automation
   UX
   Web Dev
   Java Dev
   

   View Slide

3. WHY?
   

   View Slide

4. Pair - programming is a social skill [extremeprogramming.org]
   Theory and practice of pairing could not be more different if they tried
   It is hard to pair, and it is harder to pair with a junior
   Fun facts
   

   View Slide

5. Things to consider
   The needs of pairs with different skill levels
   The pain points of the junior dev
   The pain points of the senior dev
   Pairing vs mentoring?
   Key tips on pairing with juniors
   

   View Slide

6. The Junior The Senior
   Inexperienced
   Lacking confidence
   Hesitates to make a suggestion
   Minimal knowledge of the
   codebase
   Focus of learning: codebase,
   terminology, architecture, IDE
   shortcuts
   Expert
   Confident
   Happily suggests solutions
   Knows the codebase very well
   Focus of learning: best
   practices, trends, system
   performance
   Personas
   

   View Slide

7. Junior Senior
   Opportunity to try things out
   Permission to make mistakes
   Encouragement to experiment
   Constructive feedback
   Friendly disposition from their
   pair
   Deliver fast?
   The needs
   

   View Slide

8. Pain points of the Junior
   I am slowing him down
   Sometimes I don’t understand what he is
   saying
   I ask questions all the time
   If don’t get to drive, I struggle to
   stay engaged
   If I disengage from the session
   regularly, I am not learning
   If I am not learning, I will remain a
   slow pair for a long time
   

   View Slide

9. Pain points of the Senior
   He is slowing me down
   We’ve been discussing this for 10 minutes - it
   will take me just 2 seconds to type the thing in
   and move on
   This is a one-way conversation - I seem to talk
   and explain all the time
   What kind of pairing is this?
   

   View Slide

10. Junior + Senior != pairing?
    “A teacher-student relationship feels very different from two
    people working together as equals even if one has significantly
    more experience...
    [extremeprogramming.org]
    

    View Slide

11. Benefits
    Knowledge transfer
    Collaboration at the center of company culture
    Possible antidote to Bram’s Law
    

    View Slide

12. Key tips on pairing with junior developers
    ● Acknowledge the fact you are pairing with a junior
    ○ they will require more support, patience and guidance
    ○ decide if you have the right attitude, enough time, experience in pair-
    programming
    ● Pick a suitable story to work on
    ● Reflect and adapt the way you work to suit you both
    ● Think out loud
    ● Feedback continuously and constructively
    ● Do the small talk
    

    View Slide

13. Final thoughts
    ..Our willingness to
    work together could be the juice that will push computers forward. We will
    all have to master pair-programming (not just mentoring) to make this work.
    It will be awesome.
    Best regards. -- Ward
    [Ward Cunningham on Pair Programming to the pdxruby mailing list. Thu, 29 Nov 2012]
    

    View Slide

14. How about children pairing to solve problems? (e.g.
    Code Club)
    They don’t have any knowledge of the domain
    But they are not shy to ask (snatch) a keyboard & mouse from each other.
    You will see them constantly leaning over each other, pointing at the screen and
    experimenting with solutions.
    (is it because they all feel equal? or maybe because they tend to choose their
    friends to pair with? as grown ups, what can we learn from their behaviour? do we
    need to try to work with people who we don’t naturally click with or do we just hope
    that there is always someone in the team who can fit our ‘perfect pairing partner’
    criteria?
    

    View Slide

15. Mistakes made by some teams:
    pairing juniors with super experienced devs
    =busy, under pressure, been in the industry for too long.
    

    View Slide

16. A good post on pairing with junior developers
    http://www.devmynd.com/blog/2015-1-pairing-with-junior-developers/
    @irinabasrawi
    irinabasrawi.com
    Thank you
    

    View Slide