What can I do to get more face-to-face learning?

Question

I pretty much interact with everyone else through text-based means, which is all really pronounced in this remote covid era. However, I like to learn from other people directly, talking with them. For example, I'm currently working with a senior full-stack engineer doing things like pair programming and that has been helpful.

What can I do to get more of this deeper learning instead of trying to learn almost entirely through text?

Alex Chiou · Accepted Answer

The core theme here is: Why not just ask for more face-to-face time? As long as you're requesting 1:1 series politely, worse case, you just get turned down. Set up a recurring 1:1 with that senior engineer. Go to them directly if you feel comfortable; otherwise, leverage your manager as a broker to set it up. In terms of framing the conversation, just let them know that you respect them a lot and would like to learn more from their wisdom. I'm sure there's many other engineers more experienced and senior than you on your team or on sister teams. Find those you really respect and ask them for 1:1s as well. You can ask for biweekly (or even monthly), so the request doesn't come off as overwhelming. To get value from 1:1s, do some homework on the engineer you're meeting with, so you can ask really pointed questions. I highly recommend going through their code and pushing to understand why they code things in a certain way.

What can I do to get more face-to-face learning?

Discussion