I thought now might be a good time to reflect on the mentoring
programme outlined at:
http://community.apache.org/mentoringprogramme.html
Since we started this, I have had just one mentee go through the formal
program for Derby, tracked as COMDEV-11. I think in that case the
program worked as designed, attracting a new contributor and helping
him ramp up on the project with specific goals and he continues to
contribute to Derby even now.
A student also approached me about the programme. For him we decided it
was best to just take some time for casual mentoring and ramp up and get
him prepared to apply for GSOC, where he could participate in a formal
program and get paid and I think that worked really well. The student
was prepared for his application and successful in GSOC.
I also mentored a professional developer between jobs who was interested
in getting involved in open source and Derby. For her something less
formal was what she needed and wanted, so we did it that way and I think
that was successful as she went on to become a Derby committer and PMC
member.
I think we have also seen a few other potential mentees come in asking
about the programme and we asked them to try to engage with the lists to
get a project and a mentor. I think those we didn't hear back from, so
I am not sure if they found that informal mentoring was better or just
got lost in the shuffle. It would be good to hear back if anyone knows.
I know Ross had talked about some specific university program where
completing the project in the mentoring programme might give students
credit. That might be a good use for the program as it is currently
laid out, but I think we would need to work to get university partners
to get it kicked off.
My impression right now is that the formal mentoring programme is at the
same time, too broad and too structured . With no specific reward, I am
not sure it can really be successful in its current form. At least
in my experiences with it, the key part of the mentoring programme was
that initial connection. From there the mentor and mentee could decide
what was best and things could develop openly and dynamically in the
community.
Maybe we should instead have something like a matching service similar
to local mentors, but for specific projects or maybe specific
purposes, for example if we had volunteers willing to help students
ramp up on projects now to prepare for GSOC, then I am sure that would
improve the quality of the proposals and the success of the participants
for the summer.
Anyway these are my thoughts. I am interested in what others think.
Kathey
