BFPG acknowledges the diversity of FP knowledge and skills among BFPG attendees and others, and the desire of BFPG attendees and others to increase their knowledge and develop their skills.
Accordingly, the BFPG Mentorships program ("the program") is established to facilitate mentorships for the growth and development of mentees in a specific FP-related area, and for the development of mentorship and teaching skills in both mentors and mentees, and, secondarily, to strengthen personal relationships among BFPG attendees and between BFPG attendees and other sections of the community.
A forum will be established through which people can seek mentorship on a particular topic. If a mentor is not forthcoming, efforts will be made to find one on behalf of the seeker.
People may also offer mentorship on a particular topic. Unlike people seeking a mentor, if no mentee is forthcoming, an effort will not be made on behalf of the prospective mentor to find one.
Mentorships are entered into voluntarily by both the mentor and the mentee. No circumstance compels any person to commence a mentorship with any other person.
The BFPG Mentorships program is open to all people, on the condition that either the mentor or the mentee, or both, is affiliated with BFPG [TODO define "affiliated with" precisely]. Non-programmers and programmers wanting to learn FP are encouraged to seek mentorships.
[TODO: age restrictions as an arse-covering exercise? Or what are the administrative implications if the program is open to minors?)
A public record of mentorships established under the BFPG Mentorships program shall be maintained.
The formal mentorship period shall be a duration between two and twelve weeks agreed between the mentor and mentee when establishing the mentorship. At the end of this period, the formal mentorship concludes and assessments and evaluations fall due. Ongoing mentorship beyond the formal mentorship is welcomed but is not part of the BFPG Mentorships program.
[note: I (Fraser) think agreed duation is a good idea to make sure that there is a definite point at which progress toward goals can be assessed, and reflection to occur and feedback shared between mentor and mentee. Otherwise... when?]
[note: 12 weeks chosen as max duration as balance between not being huge impost on mentor and freeing them up for other mentorships, and reasonable mentorships a person might seek e.g. cis194. min 2 weeks chosen because that seemed like a sensible time for some short mentorships e.g. presentation work etc... perhaps it should be 1mth. Both upper and lower bound should be discussed!]
To establish a mentorship, a mentor and mentee must:
- Discuss, agree and document specific goal(s) and expectations for the mentorship;
- Agree on the duration of the mentorship;
- Loosely agree on how frequently to meet during the mentorship, and the duration, location and format of those meetings;
- Notify BFPG of the commencement, topic and duration of the mentorship and update notice boards, etc.
Mentors and mentees must meet during the mentorship. The mentor must advise and support the mentee as they transparently work toward the goal(s) of the mentorship.
Mentors are mentees are encouraged to privately or publically document progress, struggles and successes throughout the mentorship.
At the conclusion of the formal mentorship mentors and mentees must:
- Meet to jointly assess, discuss and document the progress made toward the goal(s) of the mentorship, reflecting on factors that may have led to the goal(s) being achieved or not yet achieved.
Mentees should:
- Independently evaluate the mentoring they received, outlining what was helpful and what the mentor might be considered to improve the effectiveness of their mentoring. Share and discuss the feedback with your mentor.
Mentors must:
- Taking into account progress made, suggest further learning or work for the mentee in the topic of the mentorship.
[TODO: we should have templates for declaring goals and assessing completion / progress ; and templates for providing feedback to mentor / mentee]
A mentorship may be terminated prior to its agreed conclusion unilaterally by either the mentor or mentee, with or without explanation, by informing the other person and BFPG.
People who terminate multiple mentorships without reasonable explanation may be excluded from further participation in the program.
Mentorship in turning code / ideas into a presentation or workshop (for BFPG, a conference, your workplace, anywhere!)
Learning a particular theory, language, tool or library (use or internals) - Nix, lens, argonaut, Swift/swiftz, Ur, category theory,
dependent types etc.
Mentoring new contributors to an existing project - Existing contributors may seek to mentor new contributors - Non-contributors with seek to become contributors under the
mentorship of an existing contributor