Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)¶

Quick and searchable answers for common questions.

How Many Students Will I Mentor?¶

We want to be able to invest in you and make you part of our mentor community. Therefore, we aim for a minimum of 3 students per mentor.

There's currently no maximum number of students you can take on, as long as it fits in your schedule and you can provide the high quality and allotted time commitment that we expect. If you're thinking of taking on more than 10 students, please get in contact so we can better understand your situation and motivations.

Who To Contact Regarding Payment?¶

Write an email to .

Who To Contact Regarding General Mentorship Questions?¶

Write an email to or ping @Michael on Discord.

What if I forget turn on my tracker?! Or, even worse, forget to turn it off?¶

On its web application, in the "my activities" tab, TopTracker allows you to manually add, edit, or delete time.

My Student Wants To Reschedule A Meeting¶

If a student needs to reschedule one of their meetings and does so with adequate notice (12 hours or more), we'd encourage you to find a new time with them. Life can get in the way, and as long as this is an exception, and you can manage to make time in your own schedule, we want to support students to have their mentor sessions. We hope, and expect reschedules to be rare.

You have no obligation to reschedule any meeting with the student if it happens outside of the agreed-upon time slot. We understand that you have other work to do, and we want to set clear examples to avoid time spent on scheduling wherever possible. If you do want to reschedule, it is at your own discretion to do so.

If rescheduling happens often, please let the student know that they should find a different time slot for your 1-on-1 call. Also, please inform Michael at .

My Student Didn't Show For A Scheduled 1-On-1 Call¶

Your meeting time slot should be on a fixed time every week. If a student does not show up for your meeting and doesn't contact you more than 12 hours ahead of the scheduled time, this will be considered a no-show.

If you haven't heard from your student until the meeting time, please wait for 10 minutes to see whether they are just late, then cancel the call. Record the no-show in your Session Report. You may charge 50% of the scheduled call time in the event of a no-show. This also applies if the student cancels within 12 hours of a shceduled meeting.

Record the 50% time in your TopTracker activities and make sure to mention it was a no-show in your Session Report. Please clearly communicate to your students that we aim for a professional environment, which means, in this case, to stick to scheduled meetings as much as possible, and give at least 24 hours notice if they need to cancel.

After a no-show, please make sure to check in with the student and get confirmation that they’ll attend the next meeting. Please contact Michael if: -you don’t hear from the student for a week after the no-show, -if they don’t show up for two weeks in a row (despite confirming their expected attendance).

My Student Has Not Responded For Several Days¶

Some students need a tad more encouragement than others. Please attempt to get and stay in contact with your mentee even if they seem unresponsive. Ask them if there's any way you can help (coding-related or maybe with time management tips), send encouraging words, an interesting link or a funny coding-related meme.

However, if you haven't heard back from your mentee in more than a week, please reach out to .

The Website Says Students Get Unlimited Support - How Much Time Should I Invest?¶

This means that students are not limited to just their one weekly call. If they want, they can ask questions any time to their mentor on Discord or, if they'd like a potentially quicker answer, the public chat channels.

Few students go over the 1.5, occasionally 2, hours of direct 1-on-1 mentorship per week. Most students stay below it. So if there are a few students here and there that are really soaking up your mentor time, then it's okay because they can basically absorb the mentorship time that we have allotted and budgeted for other students, but that those other students haven't used.

We tell our potential students that they have one scheduled call per week, but that they are highly encouraged to reach out anytime they are stuck or have a question. We tell them that anyone of our mentors will get back to them ASAP. And this is unlimited. We used to do two calls per week but most students ended up cancelling the second call.

If you feel the student has a question that would be easier to answer on a call, and you have time, feel free to offer to hop on an extra call.

How Closely Should I Monitor My Students' Progress?¶

Stay up-to-date with what they're working on, it'll make your 1:1 call more effective and your support more actionable for the student. Use the Outline Report provided in our platform to help with that.

You can also set up an agreement with your student that they check in with you every day in a stand-up fashion and send you a quick message on:

• what are they currently working on?
• what are they stuck on, if anything?
• what are their plans for today?

Also, ask them to share their GitHub account with you. You can subscribe to be notified when they push updates, which makes it easier for you to keep track of their progress with the labs.

Being up-to-date with your students' progress helps to build an understanding of their knowledge and blind spots.