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DRAFT: this page is a work in progress. Please [:Feedback:seek further help] or check the [:TitleIndex:wiki index] for a complete page on this topic.

Overview

Getting involved in a free software project can be quite intimidating: not only is there a great deal of technical detail to learn but it can also take a while to learn the social side of a project.

As a potential new contributor, each team that uses Launchpad mentoring will give you:

• a list of bugs and blueprints that are an ideal introduction to the project or team
• easy contact with existing team members who have offered to mentor new contributors
• a list of all the bugs and blueprints for which each individual has offered mentoring.

If you're in a community that's looking to attract new participants, Launchpad mentoring gives you:

• a way to tell potential new contributors that you're interested in hearing from them
• an overview of all mentoring offers made by your community at that time
• a non-intimidating way to introduce new members to the ways of your community
• no bureaucracy: mentoring is based on commitments between individual team members and requires no administrative oversight
• access even if you use a bug tracker other than Launchpad.

Mentoring works through Launchpad teams: although individuals make and accept offers of mentorship, the offers are linked to teams and are accessible through a project's bug or blueprint list. There are a few reasons for running mentoring through teams:

• other team members can easily see what offers have been made in the name of that community and help ensure those offers are fulfilled
• potential contributors have a focal point where they can find offers that interest them
• and teams of a greater level of granularity than projects.

Let's take a closer look at mentoring.

Finding offers of mentoring

There are two main ways to find offers of mentoring:

• view all offers associated with a team
• look out for the mentoring icon in bug and bluprint lists.

The first of these is usually the quickest. Let's say you're interested in helping fix Ubuntu bugs and take a look at the Ubuntu BugSquad team.

Straight away, you can see that members of this team are offering to help newcomers work on bugs and blueprints. Clicking the Mentoring available button takes you to a list of all that team's offers of mentoring.