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Mentors guide

Mentorship is a serious commitment but a very rewarding experience.

Mentors are people from the community who volunteer to work with a student. They provide guidance which includes but is not limited to code reviews, pointers to useful documentation, doubt clearance, etc. In addition to providing students with feedback and pointers, a mentor acts as an ambassador to help the student contributor(s) integrate into their project’s community.

Adding Your Project#

  • Login with your GitHub account and update your profile information and select Mentor
  • Once the organisation application opens, you can visit https://dwoc.io/organisations to create your org.
  • Based on the org details, we will verifiy or reject your org.
  • If you have been verified, you can click on create project button in your org page to add your projects and select the project mentor from the users dropdown.
  • Only the owner of the org (i.e, the creator) can add projects and/or edit the org.
  • Mentee applications for your org will begin once the accepted orgs are announced.

Student Application Process#

  • Students interested in your project will submit a proposal similar to this.
  • The mentor can submit feedback to the students for the same and can make a decision after the final applications have been submitted.
  • As part of the final application, the applicants are also asked to draft a tentative timeline for the project. Make sure you, as a mentor, follow up on their progress regularly and guide the students back on track if they miss a deadline. It is also advised that the mentors have a rough idea of the series of tasks for their project.
  • Both the mentors and applicants may also adjust project goals based on what the applicant is interested in, or if the applicant needs more time to learn a skill or tool. Mentors are encouraged to be open to adjusting project timelines.

Make sure that your student is familiar with the workflow of your community as early as possible. Learning the toolchain a project uses, such as libraries, version control systems and bugtrackers, is high priority. Workflow also encompasses code review, talking with other developers about which algorithm is best for the problem at hand and other meta-questions about how to best get from specification to implemented solution.

Delivering Feedback#

  • Be it feedback to improve the proposal or for the project progress, make sure you deliver effective feedback to your student about their code, communication, and documentation.
  • Encourage the students by giving positive feedback and let them know of any issues early on so the students have time to improve/rectify.
  • Phrase suggestions positively and aim to provide only constructive criticism.