More recently I have been thinking through the best way I can work to get Junior Developer’s trained up and useful members of a development team. Especially with outsourcing as a consideration. I am not sure there is any silver bullet as experience really does tell. However trust, time and exposure to senior developers is important.

Firstly I think understanding what the junior wants to do is key. If they want to be a front end developer then focus on that rather than database skills. Round pegs don’t fit square holes and the learning will be much slower. It is still important that they value the surrounding skills but a little knowledge is enough, especially when they are starting out. You can’t learn everything.

The next most important thing for me is getting them to learn how to take responsibility for themselves. If a developer knows they sorts of things they are expected to be able to achieve, how they should get help and how they should get things checked, they have the skills to produce. Once a junior can produce something of value, they will get a boost in confidence. From here encouraging them to manage their own learning is key.

Senior developers and managers should definitely suggest things for a junior to learn but really a junior should manage this themselves. A mentor is a good option as it provides a focus for a junior developer to work with. A manager or mentor might seek agreement on what is going to be learnt, in order to be able to test progress but the junior has to want it. In truth study out of work is pretty key. Study might mean working on sample projects, open source projects or even paid side work.

In London we are very lucky to have a range of places hosting great conferences, talking shops, presentations etc. Get Junior developers along to these. They will show the range of skills and passion out there. Hopefully it will help light the fire.

I still believe we need to have some form of structure to help Junior Developers get a foothold in the industry but the usual people management techniques apply nonetheless.

The challenge is very acute in outsourcing. I think the only way it can work is if the Junior developer is colocated with good and open Senior Developers. As much as I have tried to motivate from across the internet, it is really all about the people you interact with on a daily basis that can make it happen. Basically I haven’t got this to work yet!