What Makes a Good Mentor?

Mentoring a student can be a very rewarding experience. However, being a good mentor is not just a matter of winding up the student and watching them go. There are specific skills that you need in order to be effective; even experienced mentors can improve these skills. This chapter highlights some of what it takes to be a good mentor.

Are you already part of the developer community? If you are not then you are not going to be effective at introducing a student to the local culture and practices. Similarly, you are not likely to be able to propose, guide and integrate successful projects relevant to the larger effort. On the other hand, if you are new to the community, working as a backup mentor on a project may be an excellent way to get involved.

Do you have a vested interest in potential GSoC projects? As a GSoC mentor you will be taking ownership of a project idea and seeing it through. If you are not passionate about the project, you will be wasting everyone's time. You are an integral part of the process from project proposal to integration. You should have project ideas that you are excited about and keen to see through the summer.

Are you willing to dedicate significant time? It is difficult to put a number on such a subtle art as mentoring. You should seriously consider your prior mentoring experiences and your available time before committing to this role. If you really don't want to or really won't be able to mentor, then don't offer.

Are you keenly interested in mentoring students? The main goal of GSoC is mentoring students. This is obviously important to the future of open source software, our immediate projects and the overall culture. Mentoring a student requires a combination of passion, responsibility and patience. A good mentor is willing to engage with students throughout their learning process.

Be Prepared to Seek Help

At all times don't forget that you have access to people, tools and resources that can make your job much easier and make you a better mentor. Make use of your org admin when you are not sure what is expected of you or have a difficult situation with your student. Make use of other mentors in your organization and the thousands of mentors on the mentor mailing list. Though it may be an annoying list at times (don't feed the trolls!), it is a valuable resource. The GSoC admins are another important resource. They set the tone and standards for the entire program. They have heard it all, so don't hesitate to contact them when a problem arises.

Backup Mentors

An organization may choose to assign backup mentors, which are recognized by GSoC, but not officially responsible for the project or evaluations. Backup mentors are useful during absences by the primary mentor. They may also have relevant expertise.

What To Expect From Under-Mentoring

The student's project is never properly defined. The project goals and deliverables are unclear, and the work schedule is not set. The consequences of this are serious and impact the project if left unchecked.

The mentor has little idea what the student is doing. The state of the project is unclear, and its progress is uncertain. Evaluation is impossible to do well.

The student gets stuck. The student seems to be engaged, and to be working hard, but no apparent progress is being made. Alternatively, the student's communications are infrequent and terse, and seem to always be on the same issue or milestone.

The student disappears perhaps for days or weeks at a time. If the student is under-mentored, it may be difficult to determine when this period began, and thus to know when to panic. Insufficient information is available for evaluation, thus it becomes impossible to fairly evaluate the student.