Two Mentoring Programs at the Same Time

Map Editors Community Mentoring
1

Dear Mentors,

First of all, just a reminder: you’re awesome!
Thanks for being there for other editors and the community :pray:t4:

Second, mentors sometime ask why they don’t see the Start mentoring button,
or why don’t they see a new mentee, after the Mentoring Coordinator assigned them one.

These questions reflect the confusion that’s caused by having 2 separate mentoring programs running at the same time.

Want to understand what are these 2 programs and why we have them?
Check out this short deck:
[slides]https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vTZ4cBCwpd2XWxQphmB090zD75aBXtzY5fdDxQHlgzz0JANHG1lZ7atSF5AWLpIej-WJJEJAYZnsSQo/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000[/slides]

Please let us know if you have any questions, we’re happy to help.

Thanks and have a great day,
Anat on behalf of the team.

3 Likes
2

Thanks Anat, this is great.

Regarding the “Start Mentoring” button, I don’t see it on my profile, but I have the “Find more mentees” is that the same or am I on a different portal?

Screenshot 2023-10-15 100113.jpg

3

Thanks for your kind words, @BryceCampbell!
The Start Mentoring and Find more mentees are for the same feature. The button changes based on your status -

  • Start Mentoring means that you haven’t matched with a mentee in the past
  • Find more mentees means that you have matched with a mentee in the past
1 Like
4

Thanks for clearing that up, @Anat-Staff ! I still have a few questions though:

  1. Are new editors made aware of the fact that they can apply for a mentor and, if so, how?

  2. Why not combine both systems, adding the mentors to both the automated and the manual program, thus enabling both sides to initiate contact?

5

Hi @DownPeriscope

Thanks for your helpful questions :slight_smile:

  • Yes, new editors get an automated email, inviting them to learn more through various resources and also to ask for a mentor.
  • Combining the 2 systems would be ideal :slight_smile: However, the “automated” one was launched a long time ago. The code is outdated and fragile. It’ll be easier to rewrite the whole thing than to change it, and it’ll take time until we can do that.

Hope that clears things up for you :geek:

6

Thanks again, @Anat-Staff ! It’s getting clearer one post at a time. :slight_smile:

Re: 2 - old and fragile code: So, basically, you’re not hoping for a lot of these “CAR” requests from coordinators? I’m asking, because slide #3 didn’t make that bit clear. If too many CAR would put the system at risk, you might want to discourage them more clearly. In other words, be as open about the fragility of the system as I am about my inadequate coding skills. :wink:

7

Thanks for your comment.

Actually, we’re not trying to discourage people from using the CAR form.
The system is strong enough to keep supporting mentors reaching out to mentees - when it breaks, we do our best to fix it :smiley:

We do encourage more Mentors and Mentoring Coordinators to participate in the Manual system, so that we can respond when new editors ask for a mentor, which is the main downside for the Automated system.
Many communities have established Manual or Automated systems, so we’re not planning on pulling the rug on either, any time soon.
It may happen at some point, but you’ll know about it and help us think around it, well in advance.

1 Like