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In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

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   I\u2019m a junior software engineer who has been placed in charge of a handful of graduates and interns who have joined my team. The project is fairly technical.

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   For the first two weeks, the new starters were pair programming. That went well, and after talking to each new starter they were eager to start working individually.

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   We\u2019re one month in and I\u2019m concerned about the performance of one of the engineers, \u201cMorgan\u201d (fake name). Morgan has completed a degree from a good university we often hire from but appears to lack any knowledge of software development. As a result, Morgan seems to struggle with researching and working through problems beyond following tutorials. I got the impression that while pair programming Morgan didn\u2019t contribute much.

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   Is there anything I could do to give Morgan the boost needed to start rolling? I\u2019m sure I could spoon feed Morgan, but it would monopolize my time when I\u2019m already spending time with the other new starters on top of my own tasks.

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   I want to give Morgan a shot, but I don\u2019t know what to do. At what point do I tell my manager about my concerns?

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   Things I\u2019ve encountered:

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   • When told to insert a colon to fix a syntax error, Morgan didn\u2019t know what a colon was.
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   • Morgan didn\u2019t take any subjects at university on data structures or algorithms, which made it hard to explain the tree used for caching.
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   • Morgan wanted to do some DevOps having done some at university. Morgan appears to have no understanding of Docker.
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   • Morgan said they studied React at university but has demonstrated a lack of understanding to write React code.
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   • The last issue Morgan worked on required them to read some source code of a library to verify its behavior. Even after explanation Morgan didn\u2019t understand how to find the calling ancestor of a given function.
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   • Morgan has never heard about concurrency.
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   Even all these issues in aggregate would be fine with me, but the continual resemblance and behavior of a stunned mullet isn\u2019t encouraging. After being told to research a concept, Morgan must be told the specific Google query to type in.

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   Thanks, and apologies for the essay!

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2. \n

   Listener Confused Cat asks,

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   I spent just over four years on a team where technical growth was lacking. Recently, I transitioned to a new team within the same company, and I\u2019m enjoying the atmosphere, the team dynamics, and the opportunity to engage in more challenging software development tasks. Fortunately, my motivation is beginning to resurface.

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   However, I\u2019ve noticed that my technical skills have become somewhat rusty. While I can still deliver systems and features, I feel like I\u2019m falling behind compared to some of my peers. This self-awareness is causing me to doubt myself, despite receiving no negative feedback from my current team or supervisor. It\u2019s not just imposter syndrome; I genuinely feel the need to upskill.

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   How can I navigate this situation effectively? What strategies would you suggest for advancing my skills while holding a senior position and preventing feelings of inadequacy from affecting my performance?

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