[Mageia-dev] "Job offer" : mentoring program coordinator

Sun Jun 19 00:21:58 CEST 2011

Samuel Verschelde a écrit :
+>
+> Le dimanche 12 juin 2011 15:27:59, Samuel Verschelde a écrit :
+>> Hello to everyone,
+>>
+>> ...
+>>
+>> During a packagers weekly meeting, misc invited us to read the following
+>> article about mentoring programs in open-source projects:
+>> http://blogs.gnome.org/bolsh/2011/05/31/effective-mentoring-programs/
+>>
+>> I invite those who haven't read it yet, to read it. I'll quote one of the
+>> mentoring best practices that were given: "In bigger projects, keeping
+>> track of who is a mentor, and who is mentoring who, and inviting new
+>> mentors, and ensuring that no-one falls through the cracks when a mentor
+>> gets too busy, is a job of itself."
+>>
+>> I'm looking for someone who could fill that "job".
+>>
+>> Description of the job:
+>>
+>> - keep track of:
+>> -- who's being mentored by who, how well it's going
+>> -- who needs a mentor and hasn't found one yet (this is one of the most
+>> important parts: no volunteer must be forgotten, volunteers are too
+>> precious !)
+>> -- who can mentor more apprentices (and sometimes convince packagers to
+>> become mentors or accept one more apprentice)
+>>
+>> - be available for questions from apprentices or mentors, by mail, and if
+>> possible, to be present on the IRC channel #mageia-mentoring on freenode
+>>
+>> - help mentors with gathering "junior tasks" (bugzilla is a never empty
+>> reserve that can be used for that. Maybe ask the bug triage team to help
+>> identify such tasks. Maybe a "junior task" keyword in bugzilla would do the
+>> trick)
+>> -- small bugs to fix
+>> -- new small packages to import in the distribution
+>> -- backports
+>>
+>> - promote mentoring (empower users into contributers. Working with the
+>> marketing team would be great I think):
+>> -- make the mentoring program known (MLs, forums, web, etc.)
+>> -- look for new apprentices
+>> -- look for new mentors
+>>
+>> Some useful skills:
+>> - be autonomous (ie no need to check that you're doing the work)
+>> - good written english (communication is very important in this job)
+>> - knowledge about packaging is a plus but not mandatory (the key aspects
+>> can be taught to you)
+>> - being or having been a mentor, or having been mentored would be a plus,
+>> but not mandatory
+>>
+>> More information about the job:
+>> - does not require a big amount of work, but real committment to the task
+>> and regularity
+>> - remember that you have a coordination role, not an authoritative role.
+>> The difference in that is that you're not here to give orders but to
+>> facilitate the mentoring program.
+>> - you don't have to be alone to do this job if it's too much for one
+>> person: you can find other helpful people wanting to help you if needed
+>> and rely on the other teams (but finding them *is* part of your job ;) ).
+>> -  this "job offer" concerns everything that revolves around the mentoring
+>> of new packagers, but if it's successful maybe other teams can follow the
+>> same approach (i18n, QA, etc... ).
+>> -  depending on your level of confidence, experience and will, you could be
+>> helped in your work. Maybe someone from the council can supervise and help
+>> you at least at the beginning; or, if no one steps up, I can help you
+>> bootstrap and organize your new "job".
+>>
+>> So, who's in?
+>>
+>> Samuel Verschelde
+>
+> Hello to all,
+>
+> First, thanks to those to offered to help.
+>
+> We had 3 candidates, plus one who offered help whoever will be in charge. 2
+> candidates were retained (Kharec has too many duties already to take the job),
+> who I interviewed on IRC to try to see who would fit best.
+>
+> The 2 candidates were good, which complicated my task because I had to make a
+> choice, but I finally came to a decision : I propose andre999 as a mentoring
+> program coordinator (or facilitator, if you think it fits the job better).
+>
+> What made me choose him over Daniel Kreuter (whose candidacy was good, I
+> repeat it) is the fact he already showed interest in this subject before the
+> "job offer", has been mentored (even if the mentoring has not been completed
+> for now), and I already had enough occasions to exchange with him in the past
+> to think that he will have the required communication skills and diplomacy to
+> do the job.
+>
+> Now, it doesn't mean he has to be alone, so I hope than magnus will help him,
+> for example to bring an IRC presence at hours where André is not available due
+> to his timezone, and if Daniel is still interested in helping for those tasks,
+> I'm sure André will be glad to receive his help.
+>
+> If you have any questions or remarks, don't hesitate to comment.
+>
+> To ennael and misc : do you want to take part in the boostrapping of André's
+> work ? I think it could be good to avoid any misunderstandings and be sure we
+> set the good direction.
+>
+> Best regards
+>
+> Samuel Verschelde
+
+Thanks for the vote of confidence. :)  I'll do everything to assure that it's not misplaced.
+
+I see the mentoring program coordinator as facilitating contributions to the key process of Mageia. 
+  To continue our progress in making Mageia one of the best distros available.
+(Packaging/development is the "nerf de la guerre", as we say in French.  Roughly translates as the 
+"heart of the war".)
+
+I would appreciate any help, particularly on IRC.
+(My availability on IRC is mostly when european contributors are asleep (or falling asleep, as 
+shikamaru can testify).
+
+And also any advice/guidance/insights from ennael & misc, of course.
+
+As an aside, I intend to complete my mentoring process so as to be able to eventually mentor those 
+in the North American time zones.
+
+-- 
+André
+