| - difficult to gauge how much they know, and how slow/fast I should in explaining stuff Generally I think this is a difficult problem. Some people will agree and nod as if they understood everything without understanding anything, while others will ask dozens of questions when they already understand 99% of what you're trying to explain but just wanted to clarify details. I think the best way to gauge how this is with different people is to explain a problem or task, see how they react and how many questions they ask, then set them on the task and see how they solve it. That gives you a reference for if they agree to everything and solve the task quickly and easily they understood, or if they struggled it gives you an opportunity to talk about them asking questions and saying something if they weren't clear. You can use this to calibrate from there. Additionally, I've found that people can be more forthcoming with talking about problems they're facing in a role in a more social setting. Going to lunch if in office or in some unstructured chat if remote. - distraction (I am excited to mentor, hence my brain keep coming back to that (providing resources, reviewing their work, etc.) while I am supposed to do my work) I think this is human nature to have your mind on the most interesting problem you're facing, which in this case to you at the current time is your mentee. It's something you just have to overcome to focus on your current task. If you have a team try to spread the reviewing across the team, this is helpful to the person as somebody else on the team may learn the same way they do and be able to explain something in a way that makes more sense to them and that's okay, as a mentor understanding that people need more feedback from different sources and providing a way for them to get that both frees yourself up and helps them. - how detailed/nitpicking should I be in reviewing, how to explain the right concept at the right time I generally think that nitpicking should be avoided in all reviews, point out things that are wrong for clear reasons and keep to your same review process you use for the rest of the team. Wrong could be opinionated if it doesn't fit the working style of the team. Explain concepts when they ask how something works, or if they have done something that is wrong. |