How to become a DrupalCon Mentor
The backbone of every DrupalCon is the community of people who come together at the event, and in particular the involvement of community volunteers who collectively influence and shape the experiences of others in attendance. In short, Mentors!
As DrupalCon Seattle continues to take shape, we are recruiting volunteers to serve as mentors during our Mentored Contribution Day. First and foremost, we ask that you complete your DrupalCon experience by planning to be in attendance at the Washington State Convention Center on Friday, April 12—the big day dedicated to contributing back to Drupal Core.
Mentors are needed to help new contributors feel welcome, set up their development environments, find tasks, and work on issues. We aim to have one mentor for every four contributors. You don’t need to be a programmer to serve as a mentor—we need all of you! Every DrupalCon, we have attendees from all skill levels, backgrounds, and all over the world come together to learn, share, and invest time to support the Drupal project and community. Having a diverse group of mentors and contributors gives everyone an opportunity to learn and share their knowledge and experience within a comfortable level and interest area. Mentors show how to look for information and serve as friendly resources for new contributors.
Mentors also ensure that participants start with a straightforward issue to understand the overall process of contribution. Contributors often work in pairs or on topic teams to find a solution together and understand how it fits into the bigger picture.
Even for the most experienced developer, the Drupal issue queue can be daunting at first glance, especially if someone has never been involved in a full issue resolution lifecycle. Maintainers in the community can prepare the issues for clear assignment, and mentors then help new contributors become familiar with the issue process. There are many issues and work needing attention from designers, testers, reviewers, writers, project managers and others to advance. We will hold multiple mentor orientation sessions that will help prepare all mentors for working with new contributors in the issue queue and on the ground.
The core mentoring team at each DrupalCon includes a number of lead roles that are filled in advance in order to coordinate efforts prior to the event. A few of these roles are: Mentoring Lead Coordinator, First-Time Contribution Workshop Leads, Translators, Mentor Booth Lead, and Communications Lead. These roles are always open to having multiple leads, or deputy leads, so that the responsibility can shift as needed. For more, watch this video.
Core mentors facilitate new contributor workshops and mentored contribution time at every DrupalCon. Mentors identify novice issues in advance so that first-time contributors have the greatest chance of making contributions during the event. Detailed descriptions are listed in this article: Mentored Sprint Leads.
Planning-wise, it helps to know in advance who is available to participate. Mentors sign up on both the event website and a "Spreadsheet of Awesomeness" for detailing who is available to do what to keep the event running smoothly.
“I think a great balance is about three mentees to one mentor, and any sort of mentor is really helpful. It can just be onboarding people and getting them set up with the tools, or introducing them to how to navigate the issue queue, or going more in-depth on issues and walking through, step by step,” says Elli Ludwigson (ekl1773), a mentoring lead at multiple DrupalCons and Content Strategist at Open Strategy Partners.
How can you help? We’re glad you asked:
- Mentor for a half day or whole day during the Mentored Contribution time on Friday, April 12 and/or during contribution time on Monday and Tuesday
- Assist participants in the First-Time Contributor Workshop on Friday, April 12
- Help triage novice issues before the Friday event
- Welcome people at our Booth; answer inquiries relating to how anyone can contribute
- Sponsor the mentor thank you dinner
- Help with contribution logistics onsite: greet people, organize volunteers, help people choose the right contribution room for them, take photos, etc.
A Breakdown of the Time Involvement for Mentors
Each day involves contribution time, though not every mentor is busy mentoring every day of the conference. For DrupalCon Seattle, there will be first-time contribution workshops on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday to get new contributors set up with the toolkit (Drupal.org/tools).
Those signed up in advance will receive information via email before DrupalCon about all the events during the week. Typically, there are two mentor orientations and one novice issue triage session, covering many of the points in this guide to good mentoring. The mentor orientations are at two separate times during the week to accommodate the busy session and training schedule; mentors need only attend one but are welcome at both.
On Friday, mentors will gather bright and early to review exactly what the overarching plan is for the day, and any specific projects that can be tackled—not to mention a brief pep talk, and much thanks! For details in list form, see the Contribution Day Checklist.
And remember, mentoring is, first and foremost, fun!
“Coming to DrupalCon and really being involved and meeting all these new people is just completely worth it,” said Ludwigson.
So we ask that you sign up to mentor, and while you’re at it, add your name and preferred activities to the spreadsheet of awesomeness. Be sure to register for DrupalCon Seattle, and stay through Friday, April 12; discount conference hotel rates.