As a mentee, we are often confused about how certain questions should be answered. Personally, I used to think that some questions did not make any sense. However, two years down the line, I have come to realize that the thought process behind such questions is to know if we are on the right track with the project.
And honestly, I am not alone; Sunil has also been in the initial dilemma phase of how to answer some of the questions his mentor asked. Eventually, he found the right way to portray his observations from a project, and with his email, he is here to help other newbees too.
On to Sunil’s email…
Hello Everyone,
I still remember my initial days when my mentor used to ask me to share the leads on a project, and all I had was a blank face. With time, I understood the importance of such questions and eventually became better at answering them.
As freshers, we may not know how to effectively answer some of these questions, which may result in a communication gap between you and your mentor. So, I have tried to answer a couple of such frequent questions asked by your mentor.
Question 1: Please share the observations/leads from the last string.
Case 1: If you found a result in the string, then your insights will depend upon the following observations.
| Observations | Leads | |
| 1. | Is that result lacking something? Is it lacking any particular feature? | If so, then that feature is one of your leads. Hence, making a string around that feature is the corresponding action. |
| 2. | Is the assignee/inventor of the result appearing in too many hits? | We can prepare a string around that particular assignee/inventor. |
| 3. | Is there any new keyword/class you found that was missing in previous strings? | Run those previous/new strings using such keywords/classes. |
| 4. | Are we getting a lot of out-of-domain hits? | We can restrict future strings by relevant classes. |
The observations/leads shared above are just examples and can vary from case to case.
Case 2: If you did not find a result in the string.
Let’s take an example to see why sharing this with your mentor is important-
You started looking for an HR room on the first floor but didn’t find one there. (maybe you used the logic that the first floor is more accessible to everyone {not that sharp logic but still not a bad one}), Explain the logic to your mentor.
They will help you refine the logic, and maybe they will tell you the second floor is more accessible to everyone. Therefore, when you look at the second floor, you find the HR team there.
The idea is to get to Tier-1 (if any) ASAP.
Team, feel free to share any other relevant points that you may have.
Sunil
Whenever we start a new job, it is common to presume that some things don’t make sense. But, as we progress from mentee to mentor, we realize the value of those little questions.
In short, what I want you to take from this blog is that – just because we don’t understand something right away does not mean it has no value. As learners, we must tweak the way we look at things, and eventually, communication will become an easy sail.
But communication is one of the skills that GreyBians learn over time. Learning on the go is an integral part of the process at GreyB and newbees are right on track with it.
Next Read: 365 days of learning at GreyB Ft. Barsha.
