What techniques can you use to teach mentees clean and efficient code?

The most important thing is to explain to the mentee why clean and efficient code is essential. These 5 points below are the most important “whys”: 1. Readability. Explain that clean code is easier for the developer and other team members to read and understand. 2. Maintainability. Point out that clean code is more maintainable over time. 3. Debugging. Clean code is easier to debug. When code is well-structured and follows best practices, it's simpler to identify and fix issues. 4. Performance. Efficient code is important for optimizing the performance of an application. 5. Scalability. Clean and efficient code is also more scalable.

Explaining is pointless. The only way to learn is to do. You must pair-program with them. I don't mean watch them either - I mean properly as equals, pair program.

To demonstrate how to achieve clean and efficient code, you can walk your mentee through specific examples and provide practical guidance. Here are my top 3 recommendations: 1. Code Review together. Start by reviewing some existing code together. Choose examples that illustrate both clean and efficient code and examples of messy or inefficient code. Discuss the differences in readability, maintainability, debugging, performance, and scalability between the two. 2. Identify best practices. Provide best practices that will help to follow the path of creating clean and efficient code. 3. Сode Review as a reviewer. Give your mentee the opportunity to participate in code reviews as a reviewer, practice is the best teacher!

When pair-programming, the process is a two-way process. Both are teachers and both are learners. Both must challenge the other with the most important question: "Why?". Sometimes many times. Sometimes the so-called mentor will discover that they have some bias to a solution or a process or a convention that is old or no longer relevant and, together, they can develop each other's skillss

Encouraging mentees to write clean and efficient code is crucial for their development. The best way for them to learn is by doing. Have them practice coding, try different solutions, and seek feedback. Assign projects and challenges, so they can apply what they've learned. Encourage participation in online platforms and communities. Sharing code, learning from others, and getting inspired by different perspectives enriches their experience. Emphasize the importance of practice. It helps to build confidence, competence, and discover their unique coding style. Guide them in actively exploring and learning through hands-on experience.

Pairing and collaborating is the only way to share and impart knowledge and skills. Whether that be pair-programming or collaborating in a workshop. The key is to let go of the shackles that we expect the older, senior person to be the fount of all knowledge. Younger, keener, less experienced team members are equally valuable; often more-so because in innocence and ignorance there is questioning. Only through questioning can we improve and develop. "Clean" and "Efficient" is contextual. It's not an absolute thing. We play a game where the maintenance and augmentation of old stuff can cost many orders of magnitude more than building anew. Those concepts need to be flex and adapt with the team, by the team.