What is the Mentoring Reception?

The mentoring reception is a way to be helped in your process for become:

• An Ubuntu Desktop Developer (LP: ~ubuntu-desktop)
• An Mythbuntu Developer (LP: ~mythbuntu-dev)
• An Kubuntu Developer (LP: ~kubuntu-dev)
• An Edubuntu Developer (LP: ~edubuntu-dev)
• A MOTU (LP: ~motu)

We will:

• Help new contributors who wish personal attention when starting.
• Help established contributors who wish personal guidance when applying for any ubuntu development membership.

Anyone is interested, can apply (read the section "Getting involved").

Who keep up the Mentoring Reception?

The mentoring reception is maintained by some volunteers. Actually the LP team is again under construction. If you wish to help us, please read the section "Getting involved").

How to contact us

There are many ways to contact us:

• You can contact us via IRC (freenode) on the channel #ubuntu-motu.
• You can contact us via the mailing list (working in progress!).
• You can contact us via our LP team (working in progress!).

Mentoring Reception Proposal

Goal of Ubuntu Developer Mentoring

This program is intended to take people interested in becoming integrated into the Ubuntu community as developers. There are two levels of mentoring:

• General Mentoring (formerly Junior Mentoring): Mentor new developers in general packaging development. The end goal would be for the mentee to become a member of ~universe-contributors and be accepted as a Ubuntu Contributing Developer by the Developer Membership Board.

• Specialized Mentoring (formerly Senior Mentoring): Mentor developers to become members of designated development teams designated development teams or MOTU.

The goal of the program is not to teach "how to make a package," but instead to teach mentees "how things are done in Ubuntu, who to go to with help/questions, how to find the right resources and tools for Ubuntu development."

Mentees will apply for mentorship and be paired with Mentors. There are two levels of mentorship: "General" mentorship, where the goal is to have the mentee join ~universe-contributors; and "Specialized" mentorship, where the mentee is prepared to join a designated development team or MOTU. Applicants should have some experience bug fixing/patching/merging/syncing (1-5 downloads) before joining the junior program. Applicants without the relevant experience will be pointed towards Packaging Training Sessions and help through IRC and mailing lists for their first sponsored uploads.

Mentorship will occur in public channels (e.g. #ubuntu-devel and a developer mentors mailing list similar to debian-mentors). Mentors should avoid sponsoring the mentors work so the mentor gets exposure to the wider community.

Workflow for Mentees

• File a bug against the "Developer Mentoring" project on Launchpad. The bug title should be the format: "[desired team] NAME's application for mentoring" where desired team name is optional for general mentoring and can either be a development team, MOTU, or a specific field in motu: e.g. "[~ubuntu-desktop] Joe Smith's application for mentoring", and instead of [~ubuntu-desktop], you could choose [MOTU-science], etc. The application should include your previous experience in Ubuntu/Debian development, technical background (programming languages, etc.), area of interest, time zone, native language (all mentoring will be done on IRC or mailing lists in English so the largest number of developers can benefit), and any additional information. A template will be provided.
• Applications will be "Triaged" by Mentoring Reception. Applicants will then either be (1) pointed to get more experience through Packaging Training Sessions, sponsored uploads, or similar introductory experiences, (2) be assigned a General Mentor, or (3) be assigned a Specialized Mentor. See Mentoring Reception Workflow below. A "brand new" developer would typically follow (1)-(2)-(3) from above.
• Mentoring will occur though IRC and public mailing lists. Communication regarding the program will be conducted through the bug report.
• Once an applicant that has been placed in (1) has demonstrated some basic level packaging skills through a small number (1-5) patches, merges, syncs, etc., they can ping the bug report and developer mentoring can assign them a general mentor. Once a general mentee becomes a member of ~universe-contributors, they can ping the bug report to get a specialized mentor. Once the specialized mentoring is complete, there bug is marked "fix released".
• Times frames: Step (1) is at your own pace, but should be greater than 2 weeks (depending on your background and starting point). General mentoring (2) and specialized mentoring (3) should last ~ 3 months (1/2 of a development cycle).

Workflow for Mentors

• Look through filed applications and contact mentoring reception that you are interested in being a mentor. Tell mentoring reception of your interest in being either/both a General or Specialized mentor (and what team). You can also let mentoring reception know if there are students you'd particularly be interested in mentoring. Mentors should avoid mentees with the same native language (to ensure communications will be public and in English for all to benefit) and mentors should avoid uploading/sponsoring mentees work.
• The mentor's role is to help the mentee find all the resources (tools and people) to become an active member of the Ubuntu development team. As a general mentor, you should make sure that the mentee is learning how to work within the Ubuntu community doing merges/syncs/bugfixes/patching/coordination with upstream/coordinating with Ubuntu teams, etc. As a specialized mentor, you should help the mentee become a member of your team (this varies team by team, check with your team as to what they expect).

Workflow for Mentoring Reception Team

• interested person contacts reception
• reception acknowledges contact

• reception evaluates candidate as one of three categories: (1) needs basic packaging experience, (2) has basic packaging experience needs "contributing developer" level experience, (3) has "contributing developer" level experience, needs experience to gain archive upload status. This way we follow the steps outlined by the Developer Membership Board for becoming an Ubuntu developer UbuntuDevelopers

• Reception points mentees to "general" training (packaging training sessions) classes with all in group (1) (connects mentees and whoever is running the general training).
• Mentees in group (2) and those that completed (1) are paired with "general" mentors
• Mentees in group (3) and those that completed (2) are connected with a development team

• Using LP to track mentees:
  • Mentee files a bug against a project owned by ubuntu-devel-reception.
  • "NEW" = unprocessed
  • "Incomplete" = needs to attend a packaging training session, needs basic experience, read wikis, etc.
  • "Complete"=qualified for the "general" mentorship program
  • "Triaged"=qualified for the "specialized" mentorship program
  • "Fix Released"=done with program
  • "Won't fix"=lost contact with, not in program
  • "Assigned to"=mentor

Relationships with other teams

• Designated development teams, Developer membership board, and MOTUs should review this proposal and give feedback.
• Designated development teams should actively review the "Triaged" bugs for potential new members/mentees.