Frequently Asked Questions about being a Participant in the IETF Guides Program

What is the IETF Guides Program?

The goal of the IETF Guides Program is to match experienced IETF participants with newer participants in order to aid their integration into the IETF community through advice, help, and collected wisdom. The assistance provided by the guides should speed up the time it takes for new participants to become active, contributing members of the IETF.

Many new IETF participants are very experienced network engineers, but they may still find being new to the IETF poses a learning curve. Even if you have been involved in the networking industry for many years, if you are new to the IETF you may benefit from an IETF guide.

What is an IETF guide?

A guide plays the role of advisor, coach, and teacher. The combination of roles allows a guide to assist a new IETF participant in developing the skills needed to participate effectively within the IETF standards process and the IETF culture.

Can anyone request an IETF guide?

The program focuses on guiding participants who are new to the IETF, but it is open to all. We give priority to people that have never attended an IETF meeting or have attended fewer IETF meetings, either remotely on onsite.

The biggest key to being a good program participant is being willing to learn. The IETF community can be different, so a participant should be willing to listen to a different perspective (the guide's). A participant should also be proactive in asking questions so that the relationship is driven by the participant's needs and not the guide's view.

Please note that the IETF guides are volunteers who are contributing their own personal time because they care about the IETF and want to see new members attending and participating in it. They do not have infinite time and have their own work to complete at the IETF. You can expect a number of good conversations over email, and in person (when IETF meetings are held physically), but they won’t have time to walk you from meeting room to meeting room. But we are sure you’ll be happy to have had them help you get off to the right start.

How are matches made between guides and participants?

A small group of IETF participants have volunteered to act as coordinators. The coordinators have areas of expertise and will work with the characteristics identified by the participants to match them with guides who have similar interests and areas of work.

What happens after a guide and program participant are matched?

Once a match has been made, the guides system will send mail to both the guide and the participant. After that, the interactions are up to them. Useful interactions will vary based on the needs of the participant and the skills of the guide. In the event that a guide or participant is unresponsive or the pair decide that the match is not constructive (extremely rare!), the leads can be contacted to request a new pairing by sending mail to lead@guides.ietf.org.

As a program participant, what should I get out of the relationship?

Ideally, a participant will come away with a better understanding of the IETF, knowledge of the standards development process, and someone to turn to when questions arise. Each person's needs will be different and the IETF Guides program should be flexible enough to assist with those needs.