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I used pair programming at a startup with a heavy junior engineering team. I loved it cause I could pair with any one of them and that “mentoring session” would be retaught without me having to do it. Our junior engineers progressed really fast in a short amount of time and I didn’t lose my mind having to reteach the same lessons over and over.

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I find pairing works well for onboarding new members.

Let them watch for a bit (no more than a few hours) to learn how things work. Then let them drive. Let them explore, make mistakes, but accomplish something and push to prod.

This should make sure all the gaps get filled in quickly. And not 2 weeks later they still don't know how to connect to the database or something basic. Quickly the new members are full team members that can join the normal pairing schedule of the experienced team members.

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