I wrote about how I started mentoring a young man I met on a plane. The mentoring ended after the first session, because the communication between us stopped. I failed to follow up with him and keep him accountable.
Last month, I had my computer out on the train ride home. I was work on my projects. One night, on my way back from Orbital, a stranger asked “is that Ruby?”. I learned that he was learning to program through Thinkful, and was struggling to make headway. I offered to help him learn to code by taking on practical work assignments.
During out first meeting, I invited him to my office. We had lunch together and discussed what he had learned so far. He shared his sense of not learning anything doing the Ruby course on Thinkful and lamented over the cost. I set up a few basic tasks for him to complete to gain a sense of his ability. I also discussed a side-project he could apply his knowledge toward. He determined to learn Javascript and begin a side-project that would help NGO’s fundraise.
We made practical headway on his project during the second meeting. We reviewed the materials I suggested he read. After understanding what he was struggling with, we went through his project. He didn’t realize that he did have a good foundation from the Thinkful lessons. It became clear that his previous knowledge helped him understand the new concepts I taught him. Together, we set up his first prototype: http://activateapp.herokuapp.com/
Our third meeting answered questions he had been building up. I found that my role moved away from knowledge transfer and became focused on general encouragement. The assignments and tasks I suggested he read we no longer a focus of our meeting. He had begun finding resources on his own that he was reading and wanted particular questions answered. I could tell he was getting caught up with unnecessary parts of his project, so I helped refocus his priorities. Because the project was the medium for learning, I needed to help him simplify the concept.
I’ve had 3 mentoring sessions so far and there is still a long way to go. Overtime, I have developed a nice friendship. I expect we will continue to meet for a long time to come. I can see my own tendencies in the way he approaches problems. While I am helping him learn to code, I am also learning a lot from his own process.
