My intern is failing
I’m mentoring an intern this summer who has been here for around 5 weeks now. They have a great attitude and passion, but not much in the coding skills department :( I really want to help them succeed and get a return offer... This is their first internship. So far, they haven’t made much progress in their project or in learning the code base at all. I’ve been meeting with them daily, and they keep messaging me on slack with the most basic, google-able questions 24/7... I’ve been practically dictating/spoon feeding each line of code to them in our 1:1s, and they basically seem to not make any progress outside of our meetings. I broke the project into very small, detailed, tickets but they can’t seem to follow the instructions at all. They keep making the same mistakes over and over, and forgetting basic things like how to make prs etc. We also have another intern on the team who is absolutely crushing their project and already a great contributor so I’m not sure what is normal. Any advice on how to help them more? We still have a bit more than half the internship left to turn things around. I’d feel terrible if they didn’t get an offer for full time
You seem like a great mentor. Maybe point them to resources like Codeacademy? Some interns in my department used that for the very basics. It sounds like your intern is not familiar with the 101s and so the most helpful thing for them would be to focus on getting the fundamentals down instead of even working on a full fledged project. Maybe save that for after they complete a course or two on Codeacademy/Udemy/something similar.
Second this. They might not be familiar with extreme basics of being a SWE and need the basic foundations to be able to retain any new knowledge ontop of that. If they keep forgetting how to make a PR, have you made sure they understand why PRs are important? What branches are? What version control is for? When I was in university 10 years ago, you didn't learn any practical SWE knowledge until your senior year unless you had your own side projects or were motivated enough to learn on your own. Not sure how it looks like nowadays but chances are they have only been exposed to academic concepts, many of which unfortunately rarely come in handy on the job.
As far as you've described it, then we know you are at the very least a decent mentor/manager. Honestly, i'd just let him/her know that he/she is slacking and hopefully they can reflect and improve
I wouldn't actually say slacking unless they're clearly putting in no effort. They could be working hard but just having trouble
That's fair. Especially considering it's their first Internship.
pip
This explains why Amazon is full of sick people
This explains why Amazon stock does so well.
If it's their first internship, they might not be really prepared if at all. I'd suggest to help as much as your time allows and let them learn. My first internship was one of the best experiences, because my mentor have teached me a lot of things. If they come back with the same question over again, most likely they felt too bad to say they didn't get it in the first place. Maybe try to break the ice in some way, so that they feel more comfortable to make mistakes or ask twice in front of you.
I bet that intern is super stressed out and anxious because of the other intern who is making tons of progress.
Yep I feel so bad, the other intern has had 4 previous internships at other big tech companies and they are working at the new grad level
I was a first time intern who fell behind other same team interns with significant work experience. It was a 3 month suffering. OP if you can't help, may be set the intern's expectation right.
Sounds tough.. especially if they’re not remembering how to make PR’s.. as a mentor kudos to you for walking them through code and spoon feeding. Maybe you’re enabling this person to a certain extent? Honestly - I’d sit with them and let them know my thoughts exactly. but at some point you’re going to have let go of the whole “I’m responsible for your success” thing. This individual isn’t your child. Everyone’s success is dependent on their own merit. Hope this helps and keep up the good work!
what I found effective is to a) set expectations with intern that asking the same qs twice is something to avoid and will reflect poorly on them. b) Tell them that they already asked something twice and ask them to struggle through it for a bit before asking for help again.
Great mentor really. People are really nervous in their first internships, I was. I'd suggest some honest feedback.
+1
It sounds like you're a good mentor, but if they don't make the cut, then they don't make the cut... Even for an intern, making the same mistake over and over as well as needing every line spoonfed really isn't acceptable. What's worse: to get no return offer, or to get one and then get fired from the full time job?
I mean personally I wouldn't mind getting a job on my resume 😂
You seem like a really caring mentor who is very patient. Are you interested in mentoring me?
Me too
me 3