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When I'm coaching developers earlier in their career, I struggle with the super-power of seniors vs. the necessity of juniors.
"The ability to focus on one concern at a time is possibly the mark of a senior developer."
vs.
"The trick for juniors, is they’re always learning more than one thing at a time, often on accident."
Telling them to focus on this one thing because that's how I'd do it doesn't feel great. What "focus-enhancing suggestions" have you used to help junior devs?
@therealadam Not sure if it counts, but I try to encourage figuring out what *specifically* they find confusing or can’t figure out in a situation. Or rephased – what specific bit of knowledge they think would help them proceed. It’s easy to get stuck in a vague state of “it doesn't work”.
Sometimes, just making yourself analyse it at that level helps you figure it out then and there. If not, it helps you know what to search for or ask about.
@henrik great idea! I like pivoting from “it doesn’t work” to what knowledge might fix it. Probably asking them to enumerate the knowledge too, to avoid focusing on magical solutions (unplug the computer) or resorting to whack-a-mole.