After spending enough years mentoring juniors, you pick up on it pretty fast whether someone is worth your time. Ask for a specific solution, and you'll get it

After spending enough years mentoring juniors, you pick up on it pretty fast whether someone is worth your time. Ask for a specific solution, and you'll get it from me once. Ask for understanding the generalized case, and I'll happily sit around explaining things to you all day long. Even asking for a specific solution is fine if it's followed up by thoughtful probing questions on the general patterns. But there's just no room for hand holding in this industry.