Hi, On 12 July 2013 12:00, Tim Golden <m...@timgolden.me.uk> wrote: > While I'm definitely sympathetic, making sure to involve newbies is not > that easy a problem to solve. (Though that's not to say we can't try). > It pretty much comes down to who's in your team. Sometimes you get a > team which wholeheartedly embraces egalitarianism and passes the > keyboard round like a conch shell; other times, you've got someone > desperately keen who just grasps the challenge du jour by the keyboard > and will hardly let go.
I was offered to take the keyboard (we were in the same team if I'm not wrong) and do some coding but I refused because I was both too tired and because I felt I was not at the proper level to code that problem. > Which brings me to your suggestion of... well, I'm not sure whether > you're suggesting "team streaming", ie a team of newbies, a team of > pros; or whether you're advocating specifically mixing the teams up. > I'll assume the latter as it seems to make more sense in the context. wrong assumpion :P If I'm in a team where other people are way more expert than me, I will never want to take the keyboard and start coding something. I think they would be bored by my slowness and by my level. My slow speed in coding could affect also the whole result (considering also that we have a stric time to respect) > We've tried to make this happen maybe once or twice in the past. It's > actually very difficult in practice, because you need people to identify > their level of profiency and then divide up on that basis. Actually, > maybe it's not that hard: we could just ask people to put, say, 0, 1 or > 2 on their name badge at the beginning to indicate perceived expertise, > and then somehow use that in the grouping. I don't know: something like > that could work. I would put a 1 in my case, hoping to get a easier (and doable) problem to solve. If it's still to hard I will try with 0. Better coding something easy than just watch other people coding. > I think people are likely to be self-deprecating when identifying their > level. I liked a question that Bruce Durling used a few years back: "Are > you more likely to be asking or to be answering questions about Python?". I won't self depreate ;) if I see that the problem is too easy for me, I will go to the more difficoult group the next time, no problem at all. > re bringing easy / intermediate problems along: well, anyone can propose > a problem. I think you're suggesting that *different* problems be solved > during the one evening, some easier, some harder. I don't say we'd never > do it, but in general we like to have everyone working on the same thing > so that, when it comes to the show-and-tell at the end, you're seeing > how another team solved the same problem you solved. I understand your point, but.....you really risk that people stop coming to the Python Dojo just because they don't feel to be at the proper level. I will probably keep coming anyway, because I really like the "social" part of the event (beer, meeting people, making new friends, talking about our jobs etc....), but I will keep watching other people coding. Another person could simply say: mmm... interesting but... not for my level. And stop coming. Do you really want this? > All that said, I'm up for trying anything. I have no issue with having a > specifically newbie-friendly session; or with having a problem which > specifically splits into an easier and a harder component; or with > making teams deliberately mixed ability. But that's just my take. of course if it's just me wanting this.... no problem, I will adapt someway, but let's see what the other people think about. Regards. -- Andrea Grandi - Software Engineer / Qt Ambassador / Nokia Developer Champion Ubuntu Member: https://launchpad.net/~andreagrandi website: http://www.andreagrandi.it _______________________________________________ python-uk mailing list python-uk@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-uk
