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Discussion on: Do you ever get frustrated with your Junior Developer(s)?

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Dave Cridland

Sometimes I get frustrated. Then I take a deep breath, and accept it's my problem, and not theirs.

Most of the time, though, I love to answer questions. Imagine how good it feels to be the guy people go to for answers. Honestly, there is no bigger ego boost. Besides, half the time they're asking questions that I've not thought about much, and answering them clarifies things in my mind. And sometimes by asking "Why is this code a bit weird here?", what they're doing for me is reminding me that we have a chunk of tech debt that we've become inured to by constant use. A fresh pair of eyes, untainted by years of just dealing with some odd bit of code, is often very valuable to a project. And a less experienced developer can highlight areas of needless complexity, too. Flattening a learning curve is a very positive thing.

Even, sometimes, the same question over and over can suggest that something really is simply hard to grasp - or maybe I'm bad at explaining it. Rarely does it mean (on its own, anyway) the junior developer is no good.

In fact, the only thing that I find frustrating, annoying, and frankly unforgivable is when junior developers have what looks as if it could be a birth year in their username if only it wasn't so damn recent...