I am a Senior SRE at a FAANG and part of my job is mentoring junior members on the team. In my experience being remote and having tools has made mentoring easier. Between slack and zoom they get to talk to me and I get to send them relevant info that they can look back on for reference.
Also in situations where I may need to show something to a couple people, I have the option to record it. This allows for others to watch who couldn't attend and it can be reference for new members.
When in the office, someone stopping by or having me come to their desk was awkward and there was usually no paper trail to reference.
If I were to go back to the office I would continue mentoring this way as the tools help facilitate the sessions better than sitting at their desk talking to them.
> When in the office, someone stopping by or having me come to their desk was awkward and there was usually no paper trail to reference.
Just in general what I noticed about remote is that my engineering colleagues are much more easily reachable. I remember years ago at a place where I had to chase a colleague for months to mentor me about a certain topic - despite going to lunch together almost every other day. Ironically in the remote setting most of the people are even in for a synchronous call/quick screen share. What I also like is having to take much less notes.
That is my experience as well. I will usually drop what I am working on to help mentor or assist someone having problems right away. It is quick to connect and the problem is occurring right then. It basically cuts the transaction time in half compared to the in person version.
Also in situations where I may need to show something to a couple people, I have the option to record it. This allows for others to watch who couldn't attend and it can be reference for new members.
When in the office, someone stopping by or having me come to their desk was awkward and there was usually no paper trail to reference.
If I were to go back to the office I would continue mentoring this way as the tools help facilitate the sessions better than sitting at their desk talking to them.