When I work with new hires, or I'm working in an area a teammate is unfamiliar with, I will often have them sit with me to watch and ask questions of me. I alwa

When I work with new hires, or I'm working in an area a teammate is unfamiliar with, I will often have them sit with me to watch and ask questions of me. I always encourage them to bring in a notebook and take notes for anything that they might have difficulty remembering, or may need more clarification on at a future time. So far, I've found that every new hire or teammate that decides not to bring a notebook and write anything down, never lasts for long. I'm happy to answer questions and help when I'm able to, but when I start getting the same questions we've already covered multiple times, and I've already told them to write it down and they don't, my confidence in their skills starts to dwindle. In contrast, the ones that use the time wisely, and take notes end up getting fast tracked to architecting systems on their own (with my oversight and code reviews). Those are the teammates that I love to work with, the ones hungry for knowledge and aren't afraid to make mistakes (assuming they aren't hiding them). I'd say I get almost as much knowledge out of mentoring as the new new hires do from learning new techniques and technology. It can be extremely rewarding.