Forum OpenACS Development: Re: Mentorship Program

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7: Re: Mentorship Program (response to 1)
Posted by Dave Bauer on 05/22/06 02:13 PM
Well, informally we have always had a mentorship program. Anyone who asks for help, gets it. Anyone who makes an effort to contribute to the the project is encouraged.

I think the main issue is no real "projects" occuring anymore. Much smaller pieces of development driven by whoever notices a need.

I originally got interested in OpenACS 3.x and became fully involved as a volunteer when the porting of ACS 4 to postgresql was done. Don was one of the people in charge back then, and I asked for an assignment. Given that I had to learn alot about OpenACS to complete the task, and I hope I asked intelligent questions to learn what I needed :)

So, if someone is willing to keep track of what type of things need to be done, and assign these to volunteers, that is great. From there, I don't think we need a speicifc relationship. If someone is willing to learn OpenACS and make some effort to understand the toolkit, and ask questions in the forums, they will get the help they need to contribute.

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8: Re: Re: Mentorship Program (response to 7)
Posted by Ryan Gallimore on 05/22/06 02:47 PM
I agree completely, Dave. And I cast absolutely no aspersions on the help you and other experienced developers have given me and many others. I think someone to connect mentors with new developers is really necessary. Forum help is great. IRC help is great. But think of what new developers could accomplish if they had some direction from a semi-formal program. It's kind of like the difference between learning independently and going to school. The former is good, but, imo, the latter is best.

Mentors would suggest and guide new users in their projects according to their interests, supported by a developing body of helpful documentation, hints, suggestions, wikis, and examples.

I've also, as I said, setup a VPS hosting solution to allow novices to work even if they don't have a development server of their own. It would have these characteristics.

I'd also like to create more documentation aimed at the novice user (and client site admin). There is a very good presentation program called Wink that makes it easy to create flash presentations out of screenshots.

I'll be developing the program, with input, in the coming weeks.

Cheers.

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9: Re: Re: Re: Mentorship Program (response to 8)
Posted by Ryan Gallimore on 05/24/06 03:01 AM
This is an open call to the community for mentors and new users who want to participate in the Mentorship Program.

Please post here or e-mail me if you are interested.

Cheers.

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10: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mentorship Program (response to 9)
Posted by Dave Bauer on 05/24/06 03:06 AM
I'll participate in the Mentorship Program (I think I will participate as a mentor...)
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11: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mentorship Program (response to 9)
Posted by Vinod Kurup on 05/24/06 04:21 AM
Hi Ryan,

I'd be interested in offering what little mentorship I can offer :)

Vinod

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12: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mentorship Program (response to 9)
Posted by Malte Sussdorff on 05/24/06 07:32 AM
I participate as a mentor as well. Bring it on 😊
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13: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Mentorship Program (response to 12)
Posted by Ryan Gallimore on 05/25/06 02:54 AM
Excellent. We have our first three mentors. Thanks for volunteering! If you can fill out this quick survey, I can try to place you with a suitable student.

http://demo.viscousmedia.com/oacs-mentorship/survey/

Cheers.

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14: Student Entry Form (response to 13)
Posted by Ryan Gallimore on 05/25/06 04:13 AM
Aspiring Students - please fill out the entry form at the link below to participate in the Mentorship program:

http://demo.viscousmedia.com/oacs-mentorship/survey/

Cheers.

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15: Mentorship Program Sign Up (response to 13)
Posted by Ryan Gallimore on 05/27/06 05:46 PM
We now have five mentors signed up! So far, three students have enrolled. New developers, please sign up here to be placed with one of our mentors.

Read more about the OpenACS Mentorship Program

I'm aiming for a June 5th start date.

Thanks to all five mentors who have volunteered their time and expertise.

Cheers.

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16: Re: Mentorship Program Sign Up (response to 15)
Posted by Iuri Sampaio on 05/29/06 09:22 AM
well since Dave Bauer "think" he will be a mentor, i guess I strongly believe i'm a new user :)
I'm very interested on it. I'm in!!