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BFPG acknowledges the diversity of FP knowledge and skills amongBFPG attendees and others, and the desire of BFPG attendees andothers to increase their knowledge and develop their skills.

Accordingly, the BFPG Mentorships program ("the program") isestablished to facilitate mentorships for the growth and developmentof menteesin a specific FP-related area, and for the developmentof mentorship and teaching skills in both mentors and mentees, and,secondarily, to strengthen personal relationships among BFPGattendees and between BFPG attendees and other sections of thecommunity.

A forum will be established through which people can seek mentorshipon a particular topic. If a mentor is not forthcoming, efforts willbe made to find one on behalf of the seeker.

People may also offer mentorship on a particular topic. Unlikepeople seeking a mentor, if no mentee is forthcoming, an effort willnot be made on behalf of the prospective mentor to find one.

Mentorships are entered into voluntarily by both the mentor and thementee. No circumstance compels any person to commence a mentorshipwith any other person.

The BFPG Mentorships program is open to all people, on the conditionthat either the mentor or the mentee, or both, is affiliated withBFPG [TODO define "affiliated with" precisely]. Non-programmers andprogrammers wanting to learn FP are encouraged to seek mentorships.

[TODO: age restrictions as an arse-covering exercise? Or what arethe administrative implications if the program is open to minors?)

A public record of mentorships established under the BFPGMentorships program shall be maintained.

Theformal mentorship period shall be a duration between two andtwelve weeks agreed between the mentor and mentee when establishingthe mentorship. At the end of this period, the formal mentorshipconcludes and assessments and evaluations fall due. Ongoingmentorship beyond the formal mentorship is welcomed but is not partof the BFPG Mentorships program.

[note: I (Fraser) think agreed duation is a good idea to make surethat there is a definite point at which progress toward goals can beassessed, and reflection to occur and feedback shared between mentorand mentee. Otherwise... when?]

[note: 12 weeks chosen as max duration as balance between not beinghuge impost on mentor and freeing them up for other mentorships, andreasonable mentorships a person might seek e.g. cis194. min 2 weekschosen because that seemed like a sensible time for some shortmentorships e.g. presentation work etc... perhaps it should be 1mth.Both upper and lower bound should be discussed!]

To establish a mentorship, a mentor and mentee must:

• Discuss, agree and document specific goal(s) and expectations forthe mentorship;
• Agree on the duration of the mentorship;
• Loosely agree on how frequently to meet during the mentorship, andthe duration, location and format of those meetings;
• Notify BFPG of the commencement, topic and duration of thementorship and update notice boards, etc.

Mentors and mentees must meet during the mentorship. The mentormust advise and support the mentee as they transparently work towardthe goal(s) of the mentorship.

Mentors are mentees are encouraged to privately or publicallydocument progress, struggles and successes throughout thementorship.

At the conclusion of the formal mentorship mentors and mentees must:

• Meet to jointly assess, discuss and document the progress madetoward the goal(s) of the mentorship, reflecting on factors thatmay have led to the goal(s) being achieved or not yet achieved.

Mentees should:

• Independently evaluate the mentoring they received, outlining whatwas helpful and what the mentor might be considered to improve theeffectiveness of their mentoring. Share and discuss the feedbackwith your mentor.

Mentors must:

• Taking into account progress made, suggest further learning orwork for the mentee in the topic of the mentorship.

[TODO: we should have templates for declaring goals and assessingcompletion / progress ; and templates for providing feedback tomentor / mentee]

A mentorship may be terminated prior to its agreed conclusionunilaterally by either the mentor or mentee, with or withoutexplanation, by informing the other person and BFPG.

People who terminate multiple mentorships without reasonableexplanation may be excluded from further participation in theprogram.

• Mentorship in turning code / ideas into a presentation or workshop(for BFPG, a conference, your workplace, anywhere!)

• Learning a particular theory, language, tool or library (use orinternals)- Nix, lens, argonaut, Swift/swiftz, Ur, category theory,

  dependent types etc.

• Mentoring new contributors to an existing project- Existing contributors may seek to mentor new contributors- Non-contributors with seek to become contributors under the

  mentorship of an existing contributor