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In her talk titled "Pair Programming as Mentorship" during RailsConf 2021, Emily Harber shares her personal journey as an early career developer and emphasizes the importance of pair programming in the mentorship process. She discusses how her initial self-learning and boot camp experience taught her the value of collaborative coding and mentorship. Harber highlights several key points regarding the relationship between mentorship and pair programming:

- **Personal Experience**: Emily recounts her transition from self-teaching to joining a boot camp where she learned the effective Socratic method of problem-solving. This method encouraged her to explore solutions rather than just receive answers.
- **Mentoring at Shopify**: After joining Shopify, Harber describes how she was paired with a senior engineer who became her mentor. This relationship focused on collaborative problem-solving, fostering an environment where both could share their knowledge and experience.
- **Role Reversal in Mentorship**: A significant moment in their relationship was when her mentor sought her opinion on a coding problem, demonstrating that mentorship can evolve into a peer relationship, where both parties learn from each other.
- **Building Confidence through Collaboration**: Pair programming allowed Emily to gain confidence in her technical abilities and improve her communication skills regarding coding. She notes that working with team members at various skill levels enriched her learning experience.
- **Emphasizing Active Learning**: Harber emphasizes that active engagement, such as pair programming, provides richer learning opportunities compared to sporadic meetings or conversations. It allows mentees to practice skills in real-time and apply concepts with guidance.
- **Mutual Learning**: Mentorship is presented as a two-way street, where mentors can gain new insights from their mentees, reinforcing that knowledge can flow in both directions.
- **Encouragement to Embrace Pair Programming**: Emily encourages developers and mentors to embrace pair programming as a highly beneficial practice in mentoring relationships. She suggests that it enhances learning outcomes for both mentors and mentees.

In conclusion, Emily Harber advocates for pair programming as a powerful tool in mentorship, articulating that active collaboration leads to growth for both parties involved. She expresses a desire to share more practical advice in a future talk, highlighting her enthusiasm for engaging discussions around software development and pairing techniques.

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