Speakerline
Speakers
Proposals
Events
Tags
Edit a proposal
Adam Cuppy
Ahmed Omran
Alan Ridlehoover
Amit Zur
Andrew Mason
Andrew Nesbitt
Andy Andrea
Andy Croll
Asia Hoe
Avdi Grimm
Ben Greenberg
Bhavani Ravi
Brandon Carlson
Brittany Martin
Caleb Thompson
Caren Chang
Chiu-Ki Chan
Christine Seeman
Cody Norman
Devon Estes
Eileen Uchitelle
Emily Giurleo
Emily Samp
Enrico Grillo
Espartaco Palma
Fito von Zastrow
Frances Coronel
Hilary Stohs-Krause
Jalem Raj Rohit
Jemma Issroff
Jenny Shih
Joel Chippindale
Justin Searls
Katrina Owen
Kevin Murphy
Kudakwashe Paradzayi
Kylie Stradley
Maeve Revels
Maryann Bell
Matt Bee
Mayra Lucia Navarro
Molly Struve
Nadia Odunayo
Nickolas Means
Noah Gibbs
Olivier Lacan
Ramón Huidobro
Richard Schneeman
Rizky Ariestiyansyah
Saron Yitbarek
Sean Moran-Richards
Shem Magnezi
Srushith Repakula
Stefanni Brasil
Sweta Sanghavi
Syed Faraaz Ahmad
Tekin Suleyman
Thomas Carr
Tom Stuart
Ufuk Kayserilioglu
Valentino Stoll
Victoria Gonda
Vladimir Dementyev
Title
Tags (comma-separated, max 3)
Body
## Abstract You must be willing to let your junior developers try, and possibly fail, at implementing patterns or tools they feel strongly about. This creates an environment that fosters mentorship, rapid growth, and respect. Less experienced developers must be willing to push boundaries, take risks, and fail and the right environment will help them feel safe and supported as they learn and grow. This talk will focus on how to be a good mentor, and the qualities you should seek when searching for a mentor. ## Details ### Outline - Introduction - My journey from junior to where I am now after only 2 years of experience of Rails - Brief story about when my mentor, Nate Hopkins, gave me space to experiment and what an impact that had on my imposter syndrome and confidence - Explain what kind of space juniors need to grow - Why failure is important - Fostering mutual respect and creating a safe space - Encouraging experimentation - Benefits of creating an environment that encourages creativity - Mental health and burnout - Turning failures into teaching moments - Walking beside, instead of in front of, juniors - Conclusion ### Desired Outcomes The main takeaway for mentors and senior developers is a better understanding, or gentle reminder, that they can help level up junior developers by getting out of their way and giving them the space to explore their ideas. For juniors, this talk will give them an insight into what a great mentor is, and what they should be looking for in a mentor. ### Intended Audience This talk is aimed at mentors and junior developers. ## Pitch The more experience you have, the further removed you are from the needs of your junior developers. With only two years experience, I have a fresh perspective on the positive and negative mentorship tactics that many juniors are currently being exposed to. The main premise behind this talk comes from a discussion I had with my team lead about a pattern I had introduced that others didn’t seem to like. The takeaway from that conversation is my lead wanted to give me the space to explore my ideas. If I succeeded, we would have a great new pattern to use moving forward. If I failed, it wasn’t something we couldn’t recover from, and I would have learned a great deal. The key to these two possible outcomes is that regardless of whether I succeeded or failed in my attempt, my mentor was excited to help me realize the lessons I learned from the experiment that would help me to become a better developer moving forward. The other reason this talk should be considered is because juniors and mids need to see someone like them on the stage. I have been to two RailsConf’s and one RubyConf and took a lot out of the many talks I attended but none of them look like me. Most of the speakers are older, well respected Rubyists and it’s hard to justify taking the time to submit a talk when you think only talks from these more experienced developers will be accepted. By giving this talk, my hope is that I inspire other developers with similar experience to submit their conference talk ideas and continue growing the Ruby community.
Back to Speaker Directory