- This is the github account where our trainees submit their assignments. Per module a specific RePo is created where trainees will make a PR. Please send your username to Joséphine on Slack, so she adds you to the organization.
- This is our secret RePo with the assignment solutions. This makes your life as a reviewer a lot easier. If the answers to the module you're helping with are not there, feel free to add yours!
- You get assigned 3 to 5 trainees at the start of the module in a slack conversation, with all the mentors for that module. You are responsible for reviewing their work for the duration of the module.
- Please don't hesitate to contact Joséphine if you are facing any issues. We are here to help you out!
As mentionned earlier, you have the freedom to decide with your trainees of the way to communicate with them about their code. You can do video calls or place comments to the PR.
We have found that the best approach is to start a group message with 'your' trainees on Slack, and agree together on the way of communication. There, you can keep the whole group informed of availability and updates.
If you choose to do video calls, there're two options. Individual calls or a group call.
If you're doing individual calls, you go over the trainees' assignment together. Make sure the trainee understands your comments! You can let them share their screen and ask them to explain their code. At the end of the call, it must be clear for the trainee what changes must be made to get approval of the assignment.
A group call requires a bit more preparation, but you only have to do it once a week, which saves some time as well. Go through all the assignments before the call and write down your comments. During the call, you can start with addressing the common mistakes, so you can refer back to this once you go over individual assignments. The advantage of this structure is that trainees can learn from mistakes that others made and that they can help eachother out with answers.
This is a step-by-step guide, made by Jim Cramer, for a written review on a PR. You can use it as a guideline, but it's not mandatory.
| Days | Activities |
|---|---|
| Tuesday (week 1) | Deadline for the trainees to hand in their first version |
| Wednesday (week 1) - Tuesday (week 2) | Mentor provides trainees with feedback |
| Wednesday (week 2) - Tuesday (week 3) | Trainees improve assignment and mentor evaluates improvements |
| Wednesday (week 3) | Core-team member Assignment Approval Check. At this point every PR needs to be approved. |
It is important for the core-team to have up-to-date info about the status of the assignment. This is why we expect you to work with two labels on the PR of the trainee.
| Label | Description |
|---|---|
| no label | not reviewed yet |
| Needs work | reviewed, but trainee needs to implement feedback |
| Approved | reviewed and assignment has been approved |
Here is an example of this in action.
This makes it easy to see which PR is still being worked on and which one has been approved.
There are five points we think are essential to good feedback in HackYourFuture.
It can happen easily that feedback only points out the mistakes, but it’s important to give positive feedback as well. Commenting on aspects that you liked about the code is crucial to make the trainee more confident. We also learn from what we did well.
Try to make your feedback as specific as possible, so the trainee knows which part of the code needs improvement.
Good feedback contains suggestions for improvement. In this way, the trainee will have ideas on how to improve the code. You push them in the right direction. Keep in mind the balance between suggestions and self-study; giving away the solution is not always the best thing to do.
Too little comments and a trainee doesn’t have enough feedback to learn from, too much feedback and the trainee is overwhelmed by all the information. As a rule of thumb, we say that a normal review is somewhere between 10 and 15 comments. When you have a feeling that a trainee needs more guidance, feel free to contact them on Slack to plan an online call! If a trainee does everything well, tease them with more advanced topics!
When you finished your review, we recommend to write a small summary at the top, where you:
- give a compliment to the trainee;
- let them know if they need to make changes;
- reflect upon the topics for that week and whether you think they understood well.