Sorry this is a repeat of an issue I posted on d.o http://drupal.org/node/1464192
I was kinda fumbling around where to post it.
As @greggles suggests on the issue there are some related discussions going on http://groups.drupal.org/guilds
There are some really good ideas going on there, but I think they are moving mostly in the direction of certifications and training.
I think the idea of mentoring could maybe be approached from several different directions.
This already exists (community) but it would be cool to formalize it a bit more.
Proteges get a list of issues based on the 'level' they choose. They get a mentor to help them try and solve that issue.
Mentors would volunteer to help new contributors. and choose a 'level' they were willing to support.
Proteges would become active contributors quicker and hopefully become mentors themselves.
By using the mentoring system per issue, Mentors wouldn't get burnt out and proteges wouldn't become too reliant on one person.
I think it is very important to focus on all levels of contributors. Docs, New people, Intermediate programmers etc.
At it's core the idea could really just be
a. A more granular filter system for issues
b. A way to connect willing mentors and proteges through the issue que.
So say you have an issue.
-The issue gets tagged with the project it comes from (views,solr,theme) etc.
-Then it could get tagged with the skills required to solve the issue (advanced php, CSS, documentation)
-Then is gets tagged with a level of difficulty (easy, intermediate, uber)
Then you have mentors
-Mentors volunteer to help and tag themselves with the things they know about (modules,skills)
-They also tag themselves with the level they are willing to support
Proteges
-Sort through a list of issues based on level of difficulty and subject
-Get a list of mentors who are appropriate to help with that issue
The benefits to this might be
-Avoids burnout because there are more than one mentor per issue.
-Better pair people new to Drupal to things they can help with. Focuses on Mentors and Proteges actual knowledge.
-Could integrate really well with the badge system idea (which is awesome) Everybody gets recognized for their help
-More issues get solved because people work together on them.
Comments
Cross posting my comments from Ideascale
"I see that the main focus here is on mentoring through issue queues, which would be awesome. I was wondering if also providing more generic mentoring as well. My above comment was really geared toward this. For instance, I am new to Drupal and I am completely overwhelmed by the number of modules and have no clue where to start. Could we provide mentors who could walk people through things and provide even all the options available to them for a specific functionality(i.e. context,panels,display suite - some, all, or just one), so they are providing support but not necessarily a personal opinion. I would think that it would be tremendously helpful to new users just to have someone point them in the right direction and give them resources(existing video tutorials, etc..) to assist in the learning curve. Also having a mentor would cut on the initial frustration or feeling overwhelmed with Drupal and they could provide the encouragement they need to stick with it. I would think it would also cut down on event the amount of mentoring needed in individual issue queues.
I know Drupal Dojo/Drupal Kata has been attempting getting this same thing started. I have not checked back on their OA site in quite a while, so I am unsure of the current status. I am fairly certain that this would be a great thing for everyone.
If I am in anyway taking this off the specific topic of discussion, please let me know. It is not my intention, just wanted to give an additional idea."
Also I commented on Improving the About Section and feel it may tie in as well:
"A section for new users would be great, also incorporating mentoring and documented solutions. KISS - keep it simple for new users and even seasoned users who are up to trying/learning a new area. For instance:
I want to build a quick 10 page site
I want to build a site like "whatever"(with cross-links to the sites showcase/site solutions)
I want to learn ... (what modules to use for x, how to customize a theme, how to develop a module, how to write css... Also with a resource reference library maybe - like NodeOne's tutorials are awesome).
Maybe even allow users to submit new ones and then have it reviewed first so there are not tons of duplicate info."
Not quite the same topic
The issue I'm trying to focus on is more towards Drupal Contributors. Not so much on training how to build sites.
This would typically be someone who was more interested in contributing code and documentation to Drupal projects.
Mentoring would be focused on guiding them to do this better.
It's also important to help site builders get up and running faster but I think that is more towards what they are talking about in this group.
http://groups.drupal.org/guilds
gotcha:)
Thanks for the clarification. I still think your idea is awesome:) and am seeing others who would love to see the same exact thing.