This is 100% the way to go. (from experience) Pick a task off the backlog, pair program, rinse and repeat. I recently streamed a session like this @ my company

This is 100% the way to go. (from experience) Pick a task off the backlog, pair program, rinse and repeat. I recently streamed a session like this @ my company (Trip.com) with one of the junior developers Part1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYsuclajEBc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYsuclajEBc Part2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-z7M4h3EzQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-z7M4h3EzQ This was his task and we just built it together while I am teaching/asking questions/explaining. Important things to focus on 1. Thought process - cannot stress this enough, it is the most important thing to explain. Why are you doing X and just talk out what you think in your head 2. Explain everything 3. Leave a lot of time for questions and make sure you aren't impatient when a question is "basic". Make sure the engineer knows he/she can ask anything, nothing is too stupid or too basic. Worst thing to do IMHO is just do "something cool". Just do the work inside the context of the environment you/him/she knows. My 2 cents