Mentor guidelines

Mentors are why a Surge Product Passport means something. You verify ready projects against a clear standard — fairly, kindly, consistently. You are part of a pool; you are not assigned one project each, and you don’t debug endlessly. Here’s how it works.

Who mentors

Experienced engineers, and top graduates of previous cohorts — the alumni-mentor path. You don’t need to be famous; you need to build well, review honestly, and communicate clearly.

How verification works

• A pool, not 1:1. You review a set of ready projects, not one assigned team. This is what lets Surge scale.
• You see only ready work. Projects reach you after self-review, automated checks and peer review — so your time goes to judgment, not triage.
• Judge evidence, not every line. Evaluate product, engineering, AI, evaluation, contribution, documentation and responsible AI — against the weighted rubric. This is not a line-by-line code audit.
• Per-individual. On a team, assess each Builder on their own journal, commits and demo explanation. A Builder who didn’t contribute doesn’t pass, even if the product does.

The rubric

Area	Weight
Problem clarity	10%
Product functionality	20%
AI engineering	20%
Software engineering	15%
Evaluation	15%
Human contribution	10%
Documentation	5%
Responsible AI	5%

Thresholds: 80+ = Verified. 70–79 = fix & resubmit. Below 70 = not verified.

How you help — office hours & Build Clinics

• Office hours by topic, not by person. Agent architecture, RAG, deployment, product review — Builders join the session they need.
• Build Clinics. “Bring your broken project” — help several teams at once. Far better economics than 1:1.

How to give feedback

• Be specific: name the rubric area, say what’s missing, say how to fix it.
• Be kind: Builders are beginners. Encourage, don’t discourage.
• Be consistent: same standard for everyone.
• Flag concerns: privacy, safety or honesty issues pause a Passport until resolved.