posted 22 years ago
We're facing a similar problem here where I work. I have been developing a program for about 6 months, and now I have to turn it over to a couple of less experienced developers.
My approach will be:
1) Schedule code reviews - spend several hours (break it up over a 2 or 3 days) going through the code line by line. "This function does this" "Why didn't you do it this way?" "Because this way is more flexible..." and so on.
2) Have the new developer do all support and coding while you're still around. If a problem happens in production, get the new guy to investigate before you get involved. Of course, anything he does has to go through you first, but one of the fastest ways to learn an application is to debug a problem.
And that's pretty much it. Simply telling him where the source code / documentation is kept is usually not enough. Have him actually start to make changes to the code -- that's the fastest way to learn.
Scott
Scott Duffy<br />:: MCSD, SCJP, IBMXML<br />:: Author of <a href="http://www.xguru.com/tutorial/cat_index.asp?cat=5" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">IBM XML Certification Guide</a><br />:: Author of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0072228873" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">How to Do Everything in JavaScript</a>, Osborne Press