“I could just do this myself in 5 minutes.” If you have ever thought this while watching a Junior struggle, you are failing as a Senior Engineer.
The “Driver-Navigator” Pattern
Stop taking the keyboard. When you pair program, the Junior should be driving 100% of the time. You are the GPS. You say “turn left,” but you let them steer.
If you take the keyboard, they stop thinking and start watching. Passive learning is weak learning.
The “Socratic Method” of Code Review
Don’t just verify their PR with “Change this to X.” Ask questions.
- ”What happens if this array is null?"
- "Why did you choose a
.maphere instead of aforloop?" - "How would this query perform with 1 million rows?”
Force them to defend their decisions. It builds confidence.
Psychological Safety
Juniors are terrified of looking stupid. I have a rule: “There are no stupid questions, but there are stupid mistakes repeated twice.”
I openly admit when I don’t know something. “I actually verified Google that syntax.” When they see a Senior struggle, they feel safe to struggle too.
Conclusion
Mentorship isn’t charity. It’s leverage. If I spend 10 hours mentoring a Junior, and they save me 100 hours over the next year, that is a 10x ROI.