Re: Mentoring a Coworker

raisenero wrote:

The biggest problem is that he doesn't learn. We all constantly harp
on "incremental compilation", I mean constantly, two to three times a
day. Yesterday I told him multiple times that he should compile and
fix every single error after every function he writes. Another
co-worker asked him every half an hour or so "Did you compile?" and he
kept responding "Yes. No errors." After a 3 hour block goes by, he
asks for help because he has 100+ errors.

I see a red flag. How could he have compiled with no errors, then have a mass of simple errors? It sounds as though he was not honest.

There are errors as far back
in the file as the very first line (an import statement). 90% of the
errors are simple typos (missing braces, parentheses, etc.), things I
think any competent programmer can fix on their own, and aside from
that, our IDE highlights such errors as you type. Before, I thought
the problem might have been that I wasn't being clear about how
frequently to compile, so I thought saying "after every function" was a
concrete enough guideline but it didn't change.

A couple of us were thinking maybe we should make up a series of
notecard tips or something, give him a few books (like The Pragmatic
Programmer), and get him over to one of our houses on the weekend to
help him out. Do you think we're putting too much effort into helping
him? It's a hard choice, he's a nice guy, I don't want to just tell
the manager "You need to fire him."

The guy does not have the skills for the job and isn't taking significant steps to get better. It would be better for both him and your company for him to change jobs. You don't have to be unkind, but letting him flounder takes its toll on you, him, and the company. In the long run all are better off letting him go.

--
Thad
.

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