Pair program

[SallyMcGrath]

Instructions

1. Pair up with a trainee and work on a kata together
2. Trainees should explain their thought process, plan out what to do, write the code and check it works
3. As a volunteer, you will need to ask questions to check understanding, provide guidance if they get stuck, give honest and meaningful feedback

🧭 Guidance

• Don't take over! It's important trainees get used to figuring things out. Provide guidance and assistance but trainees need to struggle to overcome any obstacles with understanding and technical communication
• Give honest feedback. Trainees can't develop if they don't receive honest feedback about their progress.
• Ask questions. Sometimes asking a clarifying question can help learners discover errors and often promotes more thoughtful responses.
• Encourage best practices. Reinforce good practices like reading error messages carefully sessions and checking documentation.

Why are we doing this?

Pair programming is an excellent way to develop programming and communication skills. It is often much easier to work through something when working on something 1 to 1. It is also helps our trainees to prepare for technical interviews when they'll need to code in front of other people.

Acceptance criteria

• You have pair programmed with at least one trainee for 45 mins