Re: [gentoo-dev] rfc: stabilization policies

[Thomas Sachau]

Rick "Zero_Chaos" Farina schrieb:
> On 08/31/2013 03:57 PM, Tom Wijsman wrote:
>> On Sat, 31 Aug 2013 20:45:00 +0200
>> Pacho Ramos <pacho@g.o> wrote:
>
>>> El sáb, 31-08-2013 a las 12:37 -0400, Rick "Zero_Chaos" Farina
>>> escribió: [...]
>>>> I know we are a little OT here but the fifth type of recruit is
>>>> someone who is very excited, very dedicated, and completely unable
>>>> to find a mentor.  That is where I was for a long time, no one
>>>> seemed to have the time to mentor me.  Personally I think that is a
>>>> big issue in the growth of gentoo, if we all take a little time out
>>>> to be mentors there will be more gentoo devs and we will get more
>>>> done.
>>>>
>>>> -ZC
>>>
>>> I guess we should have a official contact or mail alias to let them
>>> contact. If they don't even contact me, I cannot know about them and
>>> then mentor them :/
>
>> Ah, I like this idea better than the "list on Gentoo Wiki" I was trying
>> to approach; the only downside I can imagine if it were a single person
>> that might not respond in time (busy / devaway / MIA), so I think we
>> should at least aim to make it a mail alias with multiple persons.
>
>> We could then list people on some project page; but, only their
>> forenames or nicknames and not their actual full name and e-mail such
>> that their private details can stay private if they wish to.
>
>
> I remember actively seeking out mentors and recruiters on irc for a
> while and not getting very far.  I think that exposing recruitment to a
> wider audience than just the recruiters is a good idea, why limit
> ourselves to their bandwidth?  This isn't a remark on the performance of
> the recruiters, just a note that more people means more bandwidth.

Please keep in mind, that recruiters in Gentoo usually only point to
possible places with mentors, they dont search for recruits, they dont
know, which dev may match as mentor and they dont assign someone. They
are mainly involved, when someone found a mentor and got prepared.

From my experience, the best way to get started is helping out in the
area you are interested in. When you have worked in some area for some
time, you likely get noticed, already worked with some devs and have
good chances, that someone offers himself as mentor.

On the other side, if you just join some places and ask things like "Who
will be my mentor, i want to join", it is pretty unlikely, that someone
will instantly step up.

Keep in mind, that proper mentoring includes a good amount of time to
invest, so when someone notices that you are already around for some
time and did not quickly disappear again, they may be more willing to
assist you in your task of becoming a dev.

So with this said, i am not sure, if such a central contact point will
really improve the situation, it may instead result in a lot of churn,
since people loose interest on their way to dev or shortly after.

-- 

Thomas Sachau
Gentoo Linux Developer