When you tutor someone, don't tell them what to do step by step. When they ask you how to solve a problem, don't solve it for them.
It's tempting to explain in minute detail something you are good at, but if you always tell people how to do their job, they will become dependent on you.
Let them figure it out on their own.
When there's a bug in their code, point it out, but don't tell them how to fix it.
If you alwaystell people how to do stuff, they will never learn to think for themselves.
In my experience, most people who ask you to teach them don't want to learn as much as move on from this. It is frustrating, I no longer teach people. I take it seriously and it takes a lot of effort for me to teach well.
> When there's a bug in their code, point it out, but don't tell them how to fix it.
It's funny, I've learned the opposite lesson the hard way.
I used to just point out bugs, like I was a tutor hoping they'd realize the problem on their own and fix it correctly.
Unless it was an obvious brain-o (i.e. the developer knew what they were doing and just flubbed), this resulted unerringly in a "fix" that (a) didn't solve the problem, and (b) created another. I would end up coming off as a nitpicking asshole trying to guide the developer into writing correct code.
So now I just reply, in detail, with exactly what fix to apply, often including code verbatim. Call me jaded, but it works, and I've realized it's not my job to get people to learn to think for themselves. Those that want to already know how.
Related: never post example code you wouldn't want to see copy+pasted verbatim into the codebase. I can't count the number of times I've said "fix it using code like this" only to get a complaint a week later that the fix doesn't work, and seeing my pseudocode complete with foos, bars, and made up meta syntax copy+pasted verbatim.
It's strictly better than repeatedly pointing out the same, but slightly different, bug, in a series of incorrect fixes, before being forced to spell out the solution upon realization that the dev isn't going to get it on their own. Just skip to the end.
> if there's a bug in your fix the other dev is going to say "colanderman told me to do it this way"
> When there's a bug in their code, point it out, but don't tell them how to fix it.
This is how people develop their own problem solving skills. When I was a junior developer, that was one of the skills my team leads / senior developers really focused on. Super important to be able to think / problem solve for yourself.
It's tempting to explain in minute detail something you are good at, but if you always tell people how to do their job, they will become dependent on you.
Let them figure it out on their own.
When there's a bug in their code, point it out, but don't tell them how to fix it.
If you alwaystell people how to do stuff, they will never learn to think for themselves.