[erikpukinskis]

That person lacks some pretty basic development skills. You can roll your eyes or you can teach coding 101.

I actually like teaching coding 101. Not everyone has to, but I do. And I find people generally appreciate someone going back to the basics and explaining the tactics and theory behind a problem, rather than just giving the answer or the steps to find it.

I just think coding is neat, and I love talking about even the most basic ideas. I always find new little improvements on my understanding of fundamentals.

I have had the “even the most experienced programmers spend most of their time having no idea what’s going on. The job isn’t to always know what to do, it’s to always find a way to keep moving even though nothing makes sense” conversation dozens of times. Maybe I’m weird.

[Torgo]

It's good to have one or two people in your project community that are willing to help people that don't have much experience at the type of problem-solving and methodical thought that fixing code requires. I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to any particular project, but I'm happy to help newbies get steady footing.