I still think that is a culture problem. I have a team of engineers that frequently has a lot of junior engineers. I find it really REALLY important to reinforce the culture of "software development is a team sport" and provide concrete mechanisms to do so.
Junior engineers need help as the same rate they did before. They still need to ask for help. Remote work lets it:
- happen asynchronously & synchronously
- creates visibility of asking for help
- reduces this weird shame around it
- allows us to correct bad answers
- allows people to learn from others with the same questions
- self manages by capacity because the people with time are the ones that can answer questions
- produces an awesome collection of analytics: how many & what questions are being asked by who, Who is answering questions and about what?
Remote work is a communication and cultural change that a lot of teams have done poorly. I think most teams decided when the pandemic hit: "oh we'll use teams or slack. That's enough" and never thought more about it.
It's always difficult for people to ask for help. The best thing senior engineers can do is set the example and ask for help when they get stuck on something--even if it's something they could figure out on their own with some time.
100%. If your seniors aren’t asking for help or even casually chatting in channels, then why would the juniors be expected to start. Setting the example helps encourage it and make it no big deal.
Junior engineers need help as the same rate they did before. They still need to ask for help. Remote work lets it:
- happen asynchronously & synchronously
- creates visibility of asking for help
Remote work is a communication and cultural change that a lot of teams have done poorly. I think most teams decided when the pandemic hit: "oh we'll use teams or slack. That's enough" and never thought more about it.