Let me emphasize the importance of patience and positive reinforcement. I've worked with someone who had a reputation (previously unbeknownst to me) of being t

Let me emphasize the importance of patience and positive reinforcement. I've worked with someone who had a reputation (previously unbeknownst to me) of being terrible to work with and inadequate to the task. However, I both enjoyed working with then and saw them make significant strides in understanding in less than a year. What was the difference? Multiple factors: * I made a point of working with them until they understood the problem at hand (easier to do as a fellow developer than as a manager, though, I suspect). This had the side benefit of often increasing my own depth of explicit understanding. * I would rewrite code that they found confusing until it made sense to them. I also emphasized (sincerely) that their lack of understanding was an asset we could leverage to engineer more inherently clear code. * Every bug of theirs was a learning opportunity. * Praise for accomplishments, even small, was liberal. All of the above might sound excessive and like "hand-holding," but it's things that everyone needs. A lot of us just lucked into receiving such reinforcement earlier in life, or were spared the negative reinforcement that can only be undone with larger doses of the positive. The more you invest in the "problem" developers now, the higher the dividends later. Hoping that advice helps, and let me know if it does!