Practical Tips for new & aspiring Chingu mentors
My personal tips & advice on how to mentor a new Chingu
Recall the importance of understanding a project and meeting its requirements
As you already know, a project is not just about coding it. It is also about understanding it as a whole, identifying its different components & understanding how they are interconnected. Help a new Chingu identify the different sections of a project & assist in its identification so that the new Chingu knows what they are & what they are expected to achieve.
It is also a good idea to help keep a new Chingu’s mind focused on the bigger picture so that small, identifiable & often time-consuming tasks required to complete their project become less tedious & more meaningful.
Another piece of advice is to also encourage a new Chingu to befriend & interact with another fellow Chingu working on a similar project with similar requirements to theirs.
Encourage & teach the use of development tools & techniques to help increase productivity
Since everything is best explained with an example, I will use the development tool, Git/Github, to explain how is it important to educate & promote its amazing functionality, security & the flexibility that it provides to both teams & individual developers. Git/Github is new & often confusing to many new Chingus, so it is important to ensure first that a new Chingu using Git/Github for the first time has a good grasp of the concepts & usefulness of having both a local & remote repository.
It is also worth reassuring how new changes committed to a repository is reversible & to highlight the benefits that it provides to their development experience. Remember that it takes some time for anyone to understand additional features such as the ability to create a pull request & merging their code into a parent branch successfully so invite a new Chingu to ask questions they may have & whilst they perform their tasks getting accustomed to Git/Github as per requirement.
Be the valuable resource & support that you had or wish you had when you were a new Chingu yourself
It isn’t worth being a Chingu mentor just because you think it is a good idea; it is not good enough. Be a mentor because you realize the immense capability you have to help a new Chingu transitioning into Chingu perhaps & preferably easier than it was for you. Don’t be scared to go above & beyond to help, it is by helping others that you help yourself. Short-term thinking rarely pays off. If you spot an opportunity to help, don’t ignore it, act upon it & always give yourself the new opportunity to be resourceful. People respond well to those who are sure of what they want to do & remember that it is when we support each other & help each other that incredible things happen. It is also worth noting that it is important that you listen carefully to what a new Chingu has to say before you speak so you can provide the support that it is needed without having to assume anything.
Encourage a new Chingu to start their project early & to carry out research independently
The great thing about the Pre-Work Phase at Chingu is that it gives a new Chingu the time to settle & integrate into the new environment that they will be working in for practically, at the minimum, the next two months. While it is not your responsibility as a Chingu mentor to actively participate & code on their project it is still, however, worth encouraging good study & coding habits such as taking regular breaks during longer studying & coding sessions. Another good idea is to also encourage good time management methods such as the Pomodoro technique which can help a new Chingu work better with time without having to struggle against it. It is also worth remembering to provide genuine positive feedback or amiable encouragement when feedback is sought & a new Chingu’s project or task has been successfully completed.
Help a new Chingu with a technical mistake or misunderstanding so they can gain the right new technical knowledge
Help a new Chingu understand even the simplest details such as, for example, the difference between inline elements or block elements if they don’t already know or misunderstand. The lack of specific technical knowledge is an important detail that cost many valuable opportunities in the future so if you spot their mistake or misunderstanding point it out respectfully so that the new Chingu can learn & benefit more from their new Chingu experience.
Share valuable resources that a new Chingu can consult & learn further about difficult concepts or important fundamentals if needed. Don’t be afraid to give an insight into a more experienced, systematic & beneficial problem-solving approach if needed. After all, most of the development job opportunities require that those problem-solving skills be demonstrated at technical interviews during the hiring process. Don’t forget that by passing on your knowledge, wisdom & expertise that you are actually opening up an opportunity for yourself to learn new things as well.
Provide frank, honest & educative feedback to help a new Chingu
Giving frank & honest feedback to a new Chingu is important, but most people are fearful of doing so & would rather not & if they do, they rarely know how to do it properly. Anyhow, giving frank & honest feedback is a good thing especially if it is of high-quality & it will help a new Chingu become a better Chingu. A new & better Chingu means a better team member within a team of their chosen Tier. A good & respectful way to provide feedback is by saying something like “The color that you chose for your text on your page is hard to read & do not adhere to the minimum WCAG standards, I’d suggest you re-adjust them to meet the minimum standards & to make them easier readable” instead of saying something non-educative & less constructive such as “Your text color font is crap”.
Help & support a new Chingu without expecting anything in return
Helping a new Chingu doesn’t cost you any money & doesn’t differ from opening & holding the door or bending down to pick up something that a stranger has dropped on the floor — you can help as much as you wouldn’t expect anything in return & you help because you know you can & it is the right thing to do. It allows you to not only make you feel good but it also helps a new Chingu feel good receiving help from you. Besides, it also contributes to the amazing ripple effect within an already supportive Chingu community where a new Chingu who received help from their Chingu mentor is most likely to also help & support another Chingu expecting nothing in return, just like you.
