Mentoring From a n00b’s
perspective
Allison Sheren @allie_p
Monday, November 11, 13
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Who Am I?
Rails Girls DC Organizer
N00b
motivated learner
community lover
Mentor and mentee
First time lightning talker
Monday, November 11, 13
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There have been
a ton of people
who have helped
me learn
Monday, November 11, 13
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Everyone had the best intentions
but some people were great to learn
from and some were not.
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And that’s okay.
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Here are my main
tips for being an
effective mentor
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1. At the beginning,
understand that it’s
hard to know what
to ask and every
word sounds like a
foreign language
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so encourage
relentless
curiosity
what is terminal? What is the
command line? What is IRC?
Why should I not be terrified of
GitHub?
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2. Don’t go down
the rabbit hole
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I have no idea what
you’re talking about
anymore and I’m now
really scared of coding.
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3. Understand if
you’re not
understood
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People learn from
different people in
different ways. It’s not
personal, it’s just the
brain.
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4. The dreaded
answer to “what I
should read?”
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Give direction.
Which book
should be read
first, why, and
what should we
be learning from
it
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5. Don’t put your
fingers on my
keyboard
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Really really difficult,
but if you can have the
patience to explain and
say everything the
person should type,
they learn more
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6. Help celebrate
the small stuff and
motivate to do the
big stuff
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Thank You!
@allie_p
Lightning Talk:
Monday, November 11, 13