Actionable Tactics For Leveling Up Junior Devs

We are told that junior developers are a secret weapon, but this alleged "competitive advantage" is so elusive! Typical advice about evolving talent can be broad, un-relatable, and impractical. Aren't there any specific and actionable tactics that teams can employ for leveling up new devs? (Yes, there are!)

Presented at RailsConf and Code Climate Summit.

Transcript

1. Actionable Tactics For Leveling Up Junior Devs Sumeet Jain @sumeetjain Development Director Unabridged Software
2. Everyone says they value mentorship, yet new devs still suffer.
3. Mentorship skills are actively learned. They are not intuitive.
4. Questioning format
6. No private messages!
7. Expose maximum knowledge and pain points.
8. Stupid questions
9. “There is such thing as a stupid question.”
10. “There is no such thing as a stupid question.”
11. IRC
12. 1. Business knowledge 2. Tooling
13. Remove or document prolific abstractions.
14. - Dependencies - Abstractions - Patterns
15. Domain-level documentation
16. Make the macro intent of small classes explicit.
17. Screencasts as documentation
18. Organize them later.
19. Watch other devs work
20. Pairing is great, but sometimes watching is better.
21. Don’t forget about: - Retention - Promotion
22. Affirm the hire.
23. Support time-wasting.
24. Better use of investment time
25. Prioritize depth over breadth.
26. Are your “learning lunches” adding depth?
27. Occasionally, allocate full days.
28. Long-form technical writing
29. Solidifies their knowledge
30. Creates documentation
31. Builds their (and your) authority and brand
32. Let devs “audit” extra meetings
33. Show devs the work they would do after their next promotion.
34. Above all else, listen to your devs.
36. sumeetjain.com/tactics @sumeetjain