Question

I’m looking for advice on how to give a junior developer a chance to gain experience on a big project with tight deadlines without hurting the timeline. If we all know it will take a little longer with the developer because of less experience, then what is the best way to give them a portion of the project and spread the risk? Giving these developers the ability to learn on the job on real projects instead of handing down maintenance work all the time is important to me, and I want to find a way to make it work.

Answer 1

You need to know if they grasp the problem you are handing down. When I have to do this here is my approach:

• Give them a piece I think is a stretch for them but doable.
• Explain the importance of the piece, how it fits into the larger picture, and how they will contribute to the project success.
• Ask them to go away, take some time to think about it and then write up several possible solutions with pros and cons of each. This shows me if they have grasped the problem and if they can design a solution.
• If they come up with something that looks reasonable, then let them at it. If not, we meet and discuss the problem some more and I give them another shot.

Giving them a chance to design the solution gives them ownership and lets them prove themselves. Having them communicate the design to you first with pros and cons gives you the confidence that they can complete the solution on time.

If they can not think of any possible solutions and possible outcomes of each solution then they are not ready to step up to this problem. They will need closer mentoring and smaller problems which have been designed by another more skilled developer first.