What Mentors Do

Mentors are adults and advanced students who are on hand to help you with your projects. A mentor's primary responsibility is to

• We will make sure there is space for you to work, and that there is a working computer for you to use.

• We will assist you in keeping your computer in good working order, if you bring your own.

• We will guide you through the entire project process, at the lower color bands.

• We will stay out of your way until you ask us for help.

• We will get out of your way again when you're ready to try things on your own.

• We will refrain from typing on your keyboard whenever possible.

• We will encourage you to be inquisitive and feel good about yourself for trying new things.

What We Expect From You

We will try to work with you to help you with problems you're having, but if you become a problem yourself, the mentors may demand that you leave.

• We expect you to be respectful toward the mentors and coders in the Dojo, and to the larger global community of coders. In particular, we have a low tolerance for posturing or shaming. Everybody is here to learn, and coders should approach learning with a sense of humility and cooperation.

• We expect you to act respectfully toward the systems and equipment you're using. You must bear in mind that someone spent time and effort working on whatever you're working with, and they probably have pride in their work. We want you to have opinions and ideas about how things could be improved, but we also want you to find a way to express these positively, even if nobody you think will care is near.

• We expect you to be sensitive to different backgrounds, cultures, and life experiences. As you integrate into a global community, you will encounter people whose lives have been very different from your own, and we will help you navigate these interactions. You must be ready to make constant adjustments to how you understand and deal with people.

• We expect you to be honestly working on some computation project most of the time. We want you to work with others, and it's important to realize that part of socializing is letting your interactions with your peers veer away from goals periodically. But it's equally important to learn when and how to bring your interactions back to the task at hand, and how to maintain focus.

• We expect you to show up. The Dojo only works when people come to it, and a big part of what we want you to learn is how to work with other coders. If you have a super cool project, but haven't fulfilled the social requirements for advancement, we won't advance you to the next belt color.

We recognize that our expectations might differ from the behavior of computer professionals you know.

Please bring:

• A snack.
• A laptop. Borrow one from somebody if needs be.
• A parent! (Very important). If you are 12 or under, your parent must stay with you during the session.