Mentoring is building confidence in novices of a topic area by providing direction and peer review, working together with and facilitating communication so that novices feel welcomed by learning how and completing relevant tasks. It includes skills of instruction, guidance and leadership found in teaching, coaching and training, but without directed instruction or assessment.
Learning/improvement resources: 

We apply mentoring in our day-to-day lives including

  • As a role model for children (Youth mentoring)
  • As a contributor to the Drupal project (Drupal mentoring)
  • As an employee in the work place (Professional mentoring)

We become our best selves when we learn and apply mentoring in the activities of the communities we participate in.

Documentation resources:

Demonstrated by: 

It is not necessary to be an expert in a topic area to demonstrate or apply the mentoring skillset.

A Learning mentor should be able to do the following:

  • Demonstrates some knowledge about the topic area such as having some understanding of an issue or task by clearly explaining the issue or task.
  • Asks novices to complete a task on their own.
  • Shows novices where to start a task.
  • Answers questions and engages with novices to ensure they are not blocked or stuck.
  • Asks for and accepts help from a mentor.
  • Communicates openly and publicly.

A Skilled mentor should additionally be able to do the following:

  • Asks novices to complete a task, recognizes when novices are stuck, and provides guidance for the next steps novices should take.
  • Answers questions from novices and mentors by demonstrating
    • How you figured out the answer such as by bookmarking a common documentation page, clicking on a "about tags" on an issue
    • How you asked for help yourself in a Drupal chat channel from another mentor or contributor.
  • Provides peer review when a novice completes a task so that a novice knows where they can improve.
    • Review a patch or comment on an issue
    • Provide review to novices at a contribution event
  • Introduces novices interested in specific topic areas to experienced contributors of those topic areas.
  • Acts as a role model for novices.
  • Celebrates the successes of novices.

An Expert mentor should additionally be able to do the following:

  • Provides peer review to mentors when a mentor and their novices complete a task
  • Recruits novices and experienced contributors to become mentors or apply the mentoring skillset to contribution.
  • Acts as a role model for mentors.
  • Celebrates the successes of mentors and experienced contributors.
Related skills: 
Providing support
Teaching/Training
Wrangling volunteers

Roles and Tasks that require this skill

Discover Drupal mentor (Contributor role)
Share your experience and expertise with an underrepresented student in the Discover Drupal program
Duration: ongoing
Drupal core initiative coordinator (Contributor role)
Lead development for a Drupal core initiative
Duration: ongoing
Drupal Core Leadership Team (Contributor role)
Perform final review and governance on community-suggested improvements to Drupal core
Duration: ongoing
Drupal meetup organizer (Contributor role)
Organize a regular local meetup for Drupal enthusiasts
Duration: ongoing
DrupalCon Scholarship Program Mentor (Contributor role)
Publicize and select the recipient of scholarships to DrupalCon attendees
Duration: several weeks
DrupalCon Track Chair Lead (Contributor role)
Coordinate the Drupal Track Chairs to determine the speakers at DrupalCon
Duration: several weeks
DrupalCon Volunteer Coordinator (Contributor role)
Oversees everyone who has volunteered to help at DrupalCon and assigns them to available tasks
Duration: several weeks
Educator/Trainer (Contributor role)
Develop curriculum and facilitate trainings or courses that teach students about Drupal, best practices, and contribution.
Duration: ongoing
Facilitate a Mentoring team meeting (Contributor task)
Organize and facilitate a Mentoring team asynchronous meeting.
Duration: several hours
Greeter (Contributor role)
Welcome and direct contributors to the appropriate contribution space at Drupal events.
Duration: several hours
Major issue triage lead (Contributor role)
Recruit mentors and train them on how to triage major Drupal Core issues
Duration: several days
Mentor (Contributor role)
Inspire, enable, and encourage new core contributors. Work on the core tools and process for mentoring
Duration: several hours
Mentoring booth lead (Contributor role)
Set up the mentoring booth at a DrupalCon, and coordinate volunteers for booth time
Duration: several days
Mentoring coordinator (Contributor role)
Coordinate mentoring activities across the Drupal project and community
Duration: ongoing
Mentoring room lead (Contributor role)
Support mentors at a contribution event
Duration: several hours
Novice issue triage lead (Contributor role)
Recruit volunteers to triage novice issues for a mentored contribution event
Duration: several days
Recruit new Mentoring Coordinator (Contributor task)
Recruit further mentoring coordinators to help lead the mentors
Duration: several weeks
Review an application for project security coverage (Contributor task)
Review a project's code to see if it should be eligible for coverage by the Drupal security team
Duration: 20 minutes
Translation group manager (Contributor role)
Oversee the translators and translation moderators for a language
Duration: ongoing
Translation moderator (Contributor role)
Review new and updated translations, marking them either as approved or rejected
Duration: ongoing
Triage Novice issues and tasks (Contributor task)
Choose issues and tasks for a novice contribution event
Duration: several hours

Roles and Tasks that may use this skill

DrupalCon Track Chair (Contributor role)
Determines, along with the Drupal Track Chair Lead, the make-up of a specific speaker track at DrupalCon
Duration: several weeks
First time contributor workshop lead (Contributor role)
Prepare and run the first time contributor workshops
Duration: several hours
Mentor Communications Lead (Contributor role)
Coordinate communications with volunteer mentors for an event
Duration: several weeks
Provide support via text chat (Contributor task)
Answer questions, provide suggestions and resources to another user through text chat.
Duration: 20 minutes
Provide support via text forums (Contributor task)
Answer questions on Drupal Support forums or Drupal Answers (Stack Exchange).
Duration: 20 minutes