Help Me Help You - Levelling up your juniors more effectively
summary
Argues that juniors learn fastest when tasks sit in the zone of proximal development with clear support and increasing challenge, and recommends concrete practices: require teach-back after 24–48 hours, include juniors in code reviews, use a checklist (pseudocode, rubber-duck, Google, minimal debugging scope), and cap solo time (don’t spend an hour stuck). Advises hiring to probe for question-asking and to evaluate mentors during interviews so mentoring time is resourced and structured.
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chapters (15)
- 0:00Introduction and background
- 1:14Growth mindset in learning
- 3:00Fear of failure in juniors
- 4:43Support vs challenge in mentoring
- 6:07Zone of proximal development
- 7:51Assessing understanding effectively
- 9:15Teach-back technique for learning
- 11:02Code reviews for juniors
- 12:03Encouraging junior questions
- 13:29Concrete mentoring tips
- 15:14Safe space for failure
- 16:16Hiring for questioning mindset
- 17:39Evaluating mentors during interviews
- 18:21Supporting mentors as employers
- 19:25Conclusion and call to action
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