0:00:00.100,0:00:00.200
KATE HEDDLESTON: Hi everyone.

0:00:00.300,0:00:00.400
Welcome to my talk. I'm Kate Heddleston

0:00:00.500,0:00:00.600
and this is Technical Onboarding,

0:00:00.700,0:00:00.800
Training and Mentoring.

0:00:00.900,0:00:01.000
So I'm a software engineer out of San Francisco.

0:00:01.100,0:00:01.200
I do mostly contract work now. Full stack,[br]web

0:00:01.300,0:00:01.400
apps. And I work with a lot of really

0:00:01.500,0:00:01.600
early-stage start ups. And this was originally[br]written as

0:00:01.700,0:00:01.800
a co-presentation with Nicole Zuckerman. She's[br]a software engineer

0:00:01.900,0:00:02.000
at Eventbrite. And she couldn't be here today[br]because

0:00:02.100,0:00:02.200
she is vacationing in Italy. So I feel not

0:00:02.300,0:00:02.400
bad for her at all.

0:00:02.500,0:00:02.600
All right. So she's the one on the right.

0:00:02.700,0:00:02.800
I'm the one on the left. And, and Nicole

0:00:02.900,0:00:03.000
attended a Code Academy called Hack Brite[br]Academy, which

0:00:03.100,0:00:03.200
I teach at one day a week. And we

0:00:03.300,0:00:03.400
came together to write this talk because we[br]work

0:00:03.500,0:00:03.600
at separate companies and had experiences[br]at these separate

0:00:03.700,0:00:03.800
companies that were fairly similar.

0:00:03.900,0:00:04.000
So, when I was right out of college, I

0:00:04.100,0:00:04.200
joined a small start up. I was the sixth

0:00:04.300,0:00:04.400
engineer, twelfth person, and I worked there[br]for a

0:00:04.500,0:00:04.600
time and it grew a lot, and after awhile,

0:00:04.700,0:00:04.800
I reached a certain level of proficiancy.[br]I looked

0:00:04.900,0:00:05.000
back and I thought, I could have gotten here

0:00:05.100,0:00:05.200
a lot faster with just a little bit of

0:00:05.300,0:00:05.400
help and a little bit of structure.

0:00:05.500,0:00:05.600
And so, I turned around and created the Onboarding

0:00:05.700,0:00:05.800
program at my company. And Nicole had a similar

0:00:05.900,0:00:06.000
experience at Eventbrite, and so she has been[br]doing

0:00:06.100,0:00:06.200
a lot of work there with onboarding. So we

0:00:06.300,0:00:06.400
wrote this presentation and submitted it.[br]It's important to

0:00:06.500,0:00:06.600
note that this presentation was written specifically[br]with junior

0:00:06.700,0:00:06.800
engineers in mind. However, about 90 to 90%[br]of

0:00:06.900,0:00:07.000
what I say can very, very easily be adapted

0:00:07.100,0:00:07.200
to people who are more experienced.

0:00:07.300,0:00:07.400
All right. What is onboarding? So for the[br]purposes

0:00:07.500,0:00:07.600
of this talk, onboarding is the process of[br]taking

0:00:07.700,0:00:07.800
someone from outside of the group, outside[br]the company,

0:00:07.900,0:00:08.000
outside the team, and making them a productive,[br]independent

0:00:08.100,0:00:08.200
and confident member of the team.

0:00:08.300,0:00:08.400
And I picked these three characteristics because[br]I think

0:00:08.500,0:00:08.600
they're, they're incredibly important. Productivity[br]seems a bit self-explanatory.

0:00:08.700,0:00:08.800
It seems kind of like, the goal that we're

0:00:08.900,0:00:09.000
focusing on. Like, of course we would like[br]productive

0:00:09.100,0:00:09.200
engineers. And it's about creating efficient[br]employees.

0:00:09.300,0:00:09.400
Independence, and another word for independence[br]is autonomy, is

0:00:09.500,0:00:09.600
about creating engineers that can operate[br]in your organization

0:00:09.700,0:00:09.800
without needing a ton of oversight, that can[br]make

0:00:09.900,0:00:10.000
decisions and understand your company structure[br]well enough to

0:00:10.100,0:00:10.200
not have the overhead of having to go ask

0:00:10.300,0:00:10.400
four levels of management for something.

0:00:10.500,0:00:10.600
Also, independence and autonomy speaks to[br]this, this need

0:00:10.700,0:00:10.800
that we have to have some control over our

0:00:10.900,0:00:11.000
own destiny. I was reading an article recently[br]and

0:00:11.100,0:00:11.200
it was talking about the need for autonomy,[br]and

0:00:11.300,0:00:11.400
it was citing inmates in prisons. So, in a

0:00:11.500,0:00:11.600
lot of prisons, inmates are allowed to choose[br]the

0:00:11.700,0:00:11.800
channel. They're allowed to rearrange their[br]furniture. And they

0:00:11.900,0:00:12.000
found that this drastically reduced rebellions[br]within prisons. So,

0:00:12.100,0:00:12.200
independence is important, cause you don't[br]want your engineers

0:00:12.300,0:00:12.400
to rebel. But it's also important because[br]feeling independent

0:00:12.500,0:00:12.600
and autonomous helps people feel motivated[br]and invested in

0:00:12.700,0:00:12.800
what they're doing.

0:00:12.900,0:00:13.000
Finally, confidence I think is the most important[br]of

0:00:13.100,0:00:13.200
the three. Confidence is about creating employees[br]who believe

0:00:13.300,0:00:13.400
that they are valuable. It's not about the[br]actual

0:00:13.500,0:00:13.600
act of creating employees that are valuable.[br]The study,

0:00:13.700,0:00:13.800
which is at, the links are at the bottom

0:00:13.900,0:00:14.000
actually, that I was reading about recently,[br]they split,

0:00:14.100,0:00:14.200
this was a gendered study, but what they found

0:00:14.300,0:00:14.400
didn't really have to do with gender.

0:00:14.500,0:00:14.600
They split the participants into six groups.[br]Three groups

0:00:14.700,0:00:14.800
of men, three groups of women. So there was

0:00:14.900,0:00:15.000
a control and two test groups for each gender.

0:00:15.100,0:00:15.200
And, for one of the groups of men, they

0:00:15.300,0:00:15.400
told them, they're doing some sort of spatial[br]reasoning

0:00:15.500,0:00:15.600
activity, they told them, men are really good[br]at

0:00:15.700,0:00:15.800
spatial reasoning. You should be good at this[br]task.

0:00:15.900,0:00:16.000
That group performed significantly better[br]than the control. The

0:00:16.100,0:00:16.200
next group of men they told, men are really

0:00:16.300,0:00:16.400
bad at spatial reasoning. You'll be bad at[br]this

0:00:16.500,0:00:16.600
task. And that group performed significantly[br]worse than the

0:00:16.700,0:00:16.800
control. And they found the exact same thing[br]with

0:00:16.900,0:00:17.000
women.

0:00:17.100,0:00:17.200
And so what this means is that confidence[br]actually

0:00:17.300,0:00:17.400
affects how well people perform. So confident[br]people will

0:00:17.500,0:00:17.600
perform better in a measurable way.

0:00:17.700,0:00:17.800
So why do you care? I assume that everyone

0:00:17.900,0:00:18.000
here cares because you came to my talk. But

0:00:18.100,0:00:18.200
I would like to convince you that you should

0:00:18.300,0:00:18.400
care now. You should care immediately, and[br]that you

0:00:18.500,0:00:18.600
should start building an onboarding program[br]at your company

0:00:18.700,0:00:18.800
as soon as possible.

0:00:18.900,0:00:19.000
And I'm gonna talk about four things in this

0:00:19.100,0:00:19.200
session. I'm gonna talk about the individual[br]who's joining

0:00:19.300,0:00:19.400
the company, the company that they are joining,[br]the

0:00:19.500,0:00:19.600
specific team within the company that they[br]are becoming

0:00:19.700,0:00:19.800
a member of, and then there's a bonus category,

0:00:19.900,0:00:20.000
which is diversity.

0:00:20.100,0:00:20.200
So, the individual. What can go wrong if you

0:00:20.300,0:00:20.400
don't have onboarding? Or basically if you[br]don't have

0:00:20.500,0:00:20.600
investment in your employees?

0:00:20.700,0:00:20.800
Attrition is something that most companies[br]and most of

0:00:20.900,0:00:21.000
us are terrified of. And for a good reason.

0:00:21.100,0:00:21.200
Attrition can cost thousands of dollars per[br]employee. Up

0:00:21.300,0:00:21.400
to 1.5 to 2x their salary. And it's not

0:00:21.500,0:00:21.600
that people quit specifically because your[br]company does or

0:00:21.700,0:00:21.800
not have onboarding. People quit for a meriad[br]of

0:00:21.900,0:00:22.000
reasons. The number one is actually that they[br]are

0:00:22.100,0:00:22.200
dissatisfied with their managers. But onboarding[br]can address a

0:00:22.300,0:00:22.400
lot of the issues that people ultimately quit[br]for,

0:00:22.500,0:00:22.600
or quit because of, and it can address them

0:00:22.700,0:00:22.800
really early.

0:00:22.900,0:00:23.000
So getting someone up to speed so that they're

0:00:23.100,0:00:23.200
confident, they have this upward trajectory,[br]they're building their

0:00:23.300,0:00:23.400
skill set early, is going to set them up

0:00:23.500,0:00:23.600
for success in the long term, so that eight

0:00:23.700,0:00:23.800
months to twelve months down the road, they[br]aren't

0:00:23.900,0:00:24.000
leaving because they never felt like they[br]were part

0:00:24.100,0:00:24.200
of the team. Or they never felt like they

0:00:24.300,0:00:24.400
were contributing. Address this early at onboarding[br]is one

0:00:24.500,0:00:24.600
of the best ways to do that.

0:00:24.700,0:00:24.800
For the company. Companies care hugely about[br]the productivity

0:00:24.900,0:00:25.000
of their employees. This is a graph of productivity

0:00:25.100,0:00:25.200
decreasing as you add new engineers to the[br]team.

0:00:25.300,0:00:25.400
And, anecdotally, this actually happened at[br]LinkdIn not too

0:00:25.500,0:00:25.600
long ago. Every engineer that they added to[br]their

0:00:25.700,0:00:25.800
team decreased their overall productivity[br]and ultimately affected the

0:00:25.900,0:00:26.000
company's bottom line.

0:00:26.100,0:00:26.200
So, when their new SVP of engineering came[br]on

0:00:26.300,0:00:26.400
board, Kevin Scott, he had to do a whole

0:00:26.500,0:00:26.600
bunch of work revamping their organization,[br]building onboarding. And

0:00:26.700,0:00:26.800
this is, I mean, LinkdIn is thousands of people

0:00:26.900,0:00:27.000
at this point. So this is a huge amount

0:00:27.100,0:00:27.200
of work. To try to get the graph to

0:00:27.300,0:00:27.400
look like this. To try to get each new

0:00:27.500,0:00:27.600
employee to add value to the company. And[br]this

0:00:27.700,0:00:27.800
doesn't have to do with the employees. It's[br]not

0:00:27.900,0:00:28.000
like they're hiring engineers that are then[br]negative in

0:00:28.100,0:00:28.200
their value. It has to do with their process,

0:00:28.300,0:00:28.400
and onboarding is one of the great ways to

0:00:28.500,0:00:28.600
make sure that you're taking a good look at

0:00:28.700,0:00:28.800
your process.

0:00:28.900,0:00:29.000
This speaks to something I like to call team

0:00:29.100,0:00:29.200
debt. How many of you have heard of the

0:00:29.300,0:00:29.400
concept of code debt? A lot of people. Yeah,

0:00:29.500,0:00:29.600
we talk about that a lot as engineers. How

0:00:29.700,0:00:29.800
if you build something fast and don't think[br]about

0:00:29.900,0:00:30.000
it, you accrue this code debt, and over time

0:00:30.100,0:00:30.200
you have to go back through your code base,

0:00:30.300,0:00:30.400
take a look at things, rewrite them, and ultimately

0:00:30.500,0:00:30.600
address that.

0:00:30.700,0:00:30.800
Well, the same thing happens with people.[br]So if

0:00:30.900,0:00:31.000
you aren't doing a good job investing in your

0:00:31.100,0:00:31.200
employees, if you're not onboarding them,[br]if you're not

0:00:31.300,0:00:31.400
training them, you're going to accrue team[br]debt. And

0:00:31.500,0:00:31.600
I've seen this a lot. I've talked to a

0:00:31.700,0:00:31.800
lot of companies that are starting to get[br]into

0:00:31.900,0:00:32.000
the hundreds of people range. They're starting[br]to hit

0:00:32.100,0:00:32.200
a hundred engineers. And they're like, oh[br]my goodness,

0:00:32.299,0:00:32.400
we need onboarding. We need, we need to get

0:00:32.500,0:00:32.600
these people up to speed. And at, at four

0:00:32.700,0:00:32.800
hundred people, I mean, yeah. You've accrued[br]a huge

0:00:32.900,0:00:33.000
amount of team debt.

0:00:33.100,0:00:33.200
Every person that you add and try to onboard

0:00:33.300,0:00:33.400
is going to be increasingly difficult. Your[br]code base

0:00:33.500,0:00:33.600
is quite large at that point. You have a

0:00:33.700,0:00:33.800
lot of teams. And so going and making all

0:00:33.900,0:00:34.000
of those onboarding materials at a hundred[br]people is

0:00:34.100,0:00:34.200
way harder than starting when you're smaller[br]than a

0:00:34.300,0:00:34.400
hundred people and then maintaining it incrementally.

0:00:34.500,0:00:34.600
The third aspect is the immediate team that[br]the

0:00:34.700,0:00:34.800
engineer joins. So there's a saying that you[br]don't

0:00:34.900,0:00:35.000
know something until you teach it. And this[br]is

0:00:35.100,0:00:35.200
absolutely true for your company's culture[br]and code process.

0:00:35.300,0:00:35.400
So if you don't know how to explain to

0:00:35.500,0:00:35.600
a new engineer what your company's culture[br]is or

0:00:35.700,0:00:35.800
how you ship code or how you decide what

0:00:35.900,0:00:36.000
features are built or who approves things,[br]who reviews

0:00:36.100,0:00:36.200
things, then you don't actually know it yourself.[br]And

0:00:36.300,0:00:36.400
that's a massive red flag for your company[br]if

0:00:36.500,0:00:36.600
you can't explain your process.

0:00:36.700,0:00:36.800
Additionally, when people join small teams,[br]small teams fundamentally

0:00:36.900,0:00:37.000
change every single time you add a new person

0:00:37.100,0:00:37.200
to them. So iterating your team's process[br]to the

0:00:37.300,0:00:37.400
new engineer is not just important for them,[br]it's

0:00:37.500,0:00:37.600
also important for your existing engineers,[br]so that you

0:00:37.700,0:00:37.800
get something that looks a little bit more[br]like

0:00:37.900,0:00:38.000
this, where everyone is on the same page.

0:00:38.100,0:00:38.200
And because the team changes every time you[br]add

0:00:38.300,0:00:38.400
people to it, you're gonna have to reiterate[br]this

0:00:38.500,0:00:38.600
to everyone pretty much every time you add[br]a

0:00:38.700,0:00:38.800
new employee.

0:00:38.900,0:00:39.000
So, something about me, I love sports anecdotes.[br]I

0:00:39.100,0:00:39.200
played sports for most of my life. And when

0:00:39.300,0:00:39.400
I was done playing sports, I coached JV girls

0:00:39.500,0:00:39.600
water polo at a high school nearby. And I

0:00:39.700,0:00:39.800
used to have these really deep, philosophical[br]team meetings

0:00:39.900,0:00:40.000
with them, and I'd come in with these posters,

0:00:40.100,0:00:40.200
and one day I came in with this, a

0:00:40.300,0:00:40.400
poster with this written on it. They always[br]just

0:00:40.500,0:00:40.600
sat there and kind of rolled their eyes at

0:00:40.700,0:00:40.800
me, like.

0:00:40.900,0:00:41.000
But, I was trying to explain to them that

0:00:41.100,0:00:41.200
their ability to win games was not wholly[br]dependent

0:00:41.300,0:00:41.400
on their skills. These girls were beginners.[br]They didn't

0:00:41.500,0:00:41.600
really know how to throw. They didn't really[br]know

0:00:41.700,0:00:41.800
how to swim. They basically didn't have the[br]skill

0:00:41.900,0:00:42.000
set necessary to play water polo. But, they[br]were

0:00:42.100,0:00:42.200
playing all these games. And so I wanted them

0:00:42.300,0:00:42.400
to understand that their skill set was important,[br]but

0:00:42.500,0:00:42.600
team work was more important, so they could[br]actually

0:00:42.700,0:00:42.800
beat teams that were theoretically more skilled[br]than them

0:00:42.900,0:00:43.000
but didn't work together as well as they did

0:00:43.100,0:00:43.200
if they all banded together, because teamwork[br]is a

0:00:43.300,0:00:43.400
multiplication factor.

0:00:43.500,0:00:43.600
And this is true in engineering as well. Your

0:00:43.700,0:00:43.800
productivity as an engineering team is the[br]sum of

0:00:43.900,0:00:44.000
the engineering talent that you have multiplied[br]by how

0:00:44.100,0:00:44.200
well you work together. So if your team is

0:00:44.300,0:00:44.400
working well together, that's great. If not,[br]your team

0:00:44.500,0:00:44.600
can actually pull itself apart. And, anecdotally,[br]a lot

0:00:44.700,0:00:44.800
of, a lot of products have been built by

0:00:44.900,0:00:45.000
teams that are less than ten or five people.

0:00:45.100,0:00:45.200
So Gmail is a really great example. It was

0:00:45.300,0:00:45.400
built by a team of less than five. And

0:00:45.500,0:00:45.600
now that it's successful it's maintained by[br]a team

0:00:45.700,0:00:45.800
of over four-hundred, I think.

0:00:45.900,0:00:46.000
So our bonus category, diversity. How many[br]of you

0:00:46.100,0:00:46.200
have read Dr. Seuss's book about sneetches?[br]Yeah? It's

0:00:46.300,0:00:46.400
a great, it's a childrens' poem, like all[br]of

0:00:46.500,0:00:46.600
his books are. But it's about this community[br]of

0:00:46.700,0:00:46.800
sneetches. And sneetches are what I have drawn[br]there.

0:00:46.900,0:00:47.000
And at some point, some sneetches start developing[br]stars

0:00:47.100,0:00:47.200
on their bellies. And it's the story about[br]kind

0:00:47.300,0:00:47.400
of the rifts that happen in the community[br]as

0:00:47.500,0:00:47.600
a result of some sneetches having stars on[br]their

0:00:47.700,0:00:47.800
bellies and some sneetches not.

0:00:47.900,0:00:48.000
But I like to use sneetches to represent diversity,

0:00:48.100,0:00:48.200
cause diversity can mean a lot of things.[br]It

0:00:48.300,0:00:48.400
can be gender diversity, it can be racial[br]diversity,

0:00:48.500,0:00:48.600
it can be introverts versus extraverts as[br]far as

0:00:48.700,0:00:48.800
diversity goes. So communication styles. But[br]the idea is

0:00:48.900,0:00:49.000
that onboarding is gonna be really critical[br]if you

0:00:49.100,0:00:49.200
want to hire people who are different from[br]each

0:00:49.300,0:00:49.400
other in any way.

0:00:49.500,0:00:49.600
This is pretty typical in tech. Companies[br]are started

0:00:49.700,0:00:49.800
by a small group of people, and it's homogenous.

0:00:49.900,0:00:50.000
The phenomenom is called homophaly. We tend[br]to associate

0:00:50.100,0:00:50.200
and like to be around people who are like

0:00:50.300,0:00:50.400
ourselves. So companies tend to get started[br]as homogenous

0:00:50.500,0:00:50.600
groups.

0:00:50.700,0:00:50.800
If you don't have any onboarding, the people[br]who

0:00:50.900,0:00:51.000
are most likely to be successful joining your[br]organization

0:00:51.100,0:00:51.200
are people who are like the existing group.[br]This

0:00:51.300,0:00:51.400
is because they likely share similar communication[br]styles, interests

0:00:51.500,0:00:51.600
and hobbies. There might be tacit acceptance[br]because they

0:00:51.700,0:00:51.800
look the same as the rest of the group.

0:00:51.900,0:00:52.000
So what you're doing is you're relying on[br]homopholy

0:00:52.100,0:00:52.200
and the existing social structure for peoples'[br]success at

0:00:52.300,0:00:52.400
the company and onboarding.

0:00:52.500,0:00:52.600
And what you don't want to have happen is

0:00:52.700,0:00:52.800
something like this. You hire someone new[br]who's different,

0:00:52.900,0:00:53.000
and they feel socially ostracized upfront.[br]Not for any

0:00:53.100,0:00:53.200
particular malicious reason, but just because[br]they're different. They

0:00:53.300,0:00:53.400
communicate differently. And so what you want[br]is you

0:00:53.500,0:00:53.600
want an explicit onboarding structure that[br]helps bring people

0:00:53.700,0:00:53.800
into the fold, that helps people become a[br]part

0:00:53.900,0:00:54.000
of the team in some sort of systematic way

0:00:54.100,0:00:54.200
so that everyone who joins, no matter how[br]different

0:00:54.300,0:00:54.400
they are from the existing group, has a solid

0:00:54.500,0:00:54.600
chance at being successful.

0:00:54.700,0:00:54.800
So, hopefully now you guys are all convinced[br]that

0:00:54.900,0:00:55.000
onboarding is super important.

0:00:55.100,0:00:55.200
Who at your company can onboard?

0:00:55.300,0:00:55.400
So anyone of your team can onboard. This is

0:00:55.500,0:00:55.600
not a, senior engineers have to be paired[br]with

0:00:55.700,0:00:55.800
junior engineers. They can learn the most.[br]In fact,

0:00:55.900,0:00:56.000
going back to sports analogies, some of your[br]best

0:00:56.100,0:00:56.200
people to onboard are going to be people,[br]kind

0:00:56.300,0:00:56.400
of like if a freshman athelete were to join

0:00:56.500,0:00:56.600
a team, the sophomore athletes might be the[br]best

0:00:56.700,0:00:56.800
people to help them out.

0:00:56.900,0:00:57.000
This is because they have the most empathy[br]for

0:00:57.100,0:00:57.200
what they're going through. They also experienced[br]it the

0:00:57.300,0:00:57.400
most recently, so they have relevant information[br]and stories.

0:00:57.500,0:00:57.600
So your sophomore engineers might be some[br]of your

0:00:57.700,0:00:57.800
best onboarders at the company, in addition[br]to the

0:00:57.900,0:00:58.000
expertise of your senior engineers.

0:00:58.100,0:00:58.200
When?

0:00:58.300,0:00:58.400
So onboarding can start as soon as an offer

0:00:58.500,0:00:58.600
is accepted. I'm going to talk about an onboarding

0:00:58.700,0:00:58.800
plan coming up soon, and we're gonna talk[br]about

0:00:58.900,0:00:59.000
from the start date to what I call reliable

0:00:59.100,0:00:59.200
independence, which is where this person can[br]build things

0:00:59.300,0:00:59.400
and build features to an adequate level and[br]be

0:00:59.500,0:00:59.600
left on their own to the same degree as

0:00:59.700,0:00:59.800
other engineers on the team.

0:00:59.900,0:01:00.000
All right. How?

0:01:00.100,0:01:00.200
So, the how category I'm gonna talk about[br]some

0:01:00.300,0:01:00.400
concepts to think about, when you're thinking[br]about how

0:01:00.500,0:01:00.600
to onboard others. And then I'm gonna launch[br]into

0:01:00.700,0:01:00.800
a four-week plan that goes through some of[br]the

0:01:00.900,0:01:01.000
specific things that you can do with engineers.

0:01:01.100,0:01:01.200
So, first off, the concepts. It's pretty straight[br]forward.

0:01:01.300,0:01:01.400
You want to maximize your return on investment.[br]You

0:01:01.500,0:01:01.600
don't really want to be putting more into[br]engineers

0:01:01.700,0:01:01.800
than you're getting out of them. And most[br]people

0:01:01.900,0:01:02.000
don't really want more put into them than[br]they're

0:01:02.100,0:01:02.200
giving back. That's kind of a strange dynamic.

0:01:02.300,0:01:02.400
So, a really inefficient but really common[br]way that

0:01:02.500,0:01:02.600
people try to onboard is this, like, hand-holding[br]model.

0:01:02.700,0:01:02.800
New onboarding mentors are really prone to[br]this. They

0:01:02.900,0:01:03.000
think, I'm gonna be the best onboarding mentor[br]ever.

0:01:03.100,0:01:03.200
We're gonna do everything together. We're[br]gonna do all

0:01:03.300,0:01:03.400
of these code tutorials. They're gonna watch[br]me code

0:01:03.500,0:01:03.600
every day, and by the time we're done with

0:01:03.700,0:01:03.800
three months, they're gonna know everything[br]that I know.

0:01:03.900,0:01:04.000
And, in addition to being inefficient, because[br]this is

0:01:04.099,0:01:04.200
a huge time sink, it's also unrealistic. People[br]do

0:01:04.300,0:01:04.400
not become senior engineers in three months.[br]You need

0:01:04.500,0:01:04.599
time. You just, you just do. And so this

0:01:04.700,0:01:04.800
burns people out and also disappoints them.

0:01:04.900,0:01:05.000
A more efficient way to think abou things[br]is,

0:01:05.099,0:01:05.200
my example is bumper bowling, which is pretty[br]much

0:01:05.300,0:01:05.400
the only way I should be allowed to bowl.

0:01:05.500,0:01:05.600
But, you set up an environment that's constrained,[br]where

0:01:05.700,0:01:05.800
they're able to play freely. They're able[br]to go

0:01:05.900,0:01:06.000
off and do what they want, come back and

0:01:06.100,0:01:06.200
ask questions. But you don't have to handhold[br]them

0:01:06.300,0:01:06.400
through things.

0:01:06.500,0:01:06.600
And so the way you do this with a

0:01:06.700,0:01:06.800
technical environment is automation is huge.[br]So, automating the

0:01:06.900,0:01:07.000
development environment, automating deploy.[br]Having a lot of testing

0:01:07.100,0:01:07.200
for your code base, however you decide to[br]do

0:01:07.300,0:01:07.400
that. Whether it's TDD or not. Will help these

0:01:07.500,0:01:07.600
junior engineers have a safe space to learn[br]and

0:01:07.700,0:01:07.800
grow and play.

0:01:07.900,0:01:08.000
One of the important things to think about,[br]too,

0:01:08.100,0:01:08.200
when setting up this environment is that scoping[br]is

0:01:08.300,0:01:08.400
critical. One of the tenants of expertise[br]is the

0:01:08.500,0:01:08.600
ability to scope. So, if you're an expert,[br]you

0:01:08.700,0:01:08.800
understand the landscape incredibly well.[br]So you're able to

0:01:08.900,0:01:09.000
set these really well-defined boundaries.[br]Junior engineers, by definition,

0:01:09.100,0:01:09.200
are not good at scoping because they don't[br]know

0:01:09.300,0:01:09.400
the landscape.

0:01:09.500,0:01:09.600
So, when you're thinking about giving them[br]projects and

0:01:09.700,0:01:09.800
you're thinking about setting up their environment,[br]make sure

0:01:09.900,0:01:10.000
to set boundaries for them and then slowly[br]move

0:01:10.100,0:01:10.200
them out as they know more about what's going

0:01:10.300,0:01:10.400
on. Because they won't be able to set those

0:01:10.500,0:01:10.600
boundaries for themselves.

0:01:10.700,0:01:10.800
So, kind of three onboarding categories that[br]map to

0:01:10.900,0:01:11.000
the productive, independent, confident thing[br]I was talking about

0:01:11.100,0:01:11.200
earlier are technical knowledge, company knowledge[br]and process, and

0:01:11.300,0:01:11.400
personal development. I mention this because[br]people think that

0:01:11.500,0:01:11.600
onboarding has to do with technical knowledge.[br]They seem

0:01:11.700,0:01:11.800
to think that that's 90% of what's going on.

0:01:11.900,0:01:12.000
I'd say it's actually about a third, and it's

0:01:12.100,0:01:12.200
actually the easiest third, because you can[br]go to

0:01:12.300,0:01:12.400
the internet and find a ton of tutorials on,

0:01:12.500,0:01:12.600
on Ruby and how to learn Rails and how

0:01:12.700,0:01:12.800
to use Rails and blog posts about how to

0:01:12.900,0:01:13.000
use any number of technology out there.

0:01:13.100,0:01:13.200
The harder category, which is another third[br]of what

0:01:13.300,0:01:13.400
they need to know, is the company knowledge[br]and

0:01:13.500,0:01:13.600
process. And this is really, really important[br]for them

0:01:13.700,0:01:13.800
being independent. They can't be independent[br]if they don't

0:01:13.900,0:01:14.000
know how to operate within the company's infrastructure.[br]This

0:01:14.100,0:01:14.200
is harder because most companies don't write[br]this down.

0:01:14.300,0:01:14.400
So it's in someone's head somewhere, and the[br]junior

0:01:14.500,0:01:14.600
engineer, or the new engineer, is tasked with[br]going

0:01:14.700,0:01:14.800
and extracting it from whoever on the team[br]knows

0:01:14.900,0:01:15.000
this. So the more explicit you can be about

0:01:15.100,0:01:15.200
your company knowledge and process, the better.

0:01:15.300,0:01:15.400
And then third, personal development. That[br]has to do

0:01:15.500,0:01:15.600
with confidence, career trajectories. Again,[br]this is, this is

0:01:15.700,0:01:15.800
important because confident people are willing[br]to reach. They're

0:01:15.900,0:01:16.000
willing to be outgoing and they're willing[br]to try

0:01:16.100,0:01:16.200
new things. They also perform better.

0:01:16.300,0:01:16.400
OK. So now I'm gonna talk about a fairly

0:01:16.500,0:01:16.600
specific plan. This was written with junior[br]engineers in

0:01:16.700,0:01:16.800
mind. So some of the tasks are very specific

0:01:16.900,0:01:17.000
to junior engineers, as is the time frame.[br]A

0:01:17.100,0:01:17.200
lot of these things will be relevant for people

0:01:17.300,0:01:17.400
with more experience. The time frame just[br]might be

0:01:17.500,0:01:17.600
more condensed.

0:01:17.700,0:01:17.800
So, for week one for a junior engineer, it's

0:01:17.900,0:01:18.000
all about shipping code and kind of getting[br]to

0:01:18.100,0:01:18.200
know their immediate team. So dev environment[br]setup is

0:01:18.300,0:01:18.400
critical for anyone joining an engineering[br]team. The last

0:01:18.500,0:01:18.600
person who joined the company is going to[br]be

0:01:18.700,0:01:18.800
the best person to get them up to speed

0:01:18.900,0:01:19.000
on their dev environment, because they are[br]the one

0:01:19.100,0:01:19.200
who knows the most about how to set up

0:01:19.300,0:01:19.400
a dev environment. Someone who started two[br]years ago

0:01:19.500,0:01:19.600
is probably not going to know the ins and

0:01:19.700,0:01:19.800
outs of getting started.

0:01:19.900,0:01:20.000
Additionally, you should have a goal about[br]how quickly

0:01:20.100,0:01:20.200
you want someone's dev environment to be set[br]up

0:01:20.300,0:01:20.400
so that they can reasonably ship code. So[br]like

0:01:20.500,0:01:20.600
a config file, for example, or something static.[br]A

0:01:20.700,0:01:20.800
great goal is the first week. An awesome goal

0:01:20.900,0:01:21.000
is the first day. And, if you want to

0:01:21.100,0:01:21.200
try to match, I think it's Debian in the

0:01:21.300,0:01:21.400
opensource world, their goal is five minutes,[br]which is

0:01:21.500,0:01:21.600
probably a little bit of a reach. But I'd

0:01:21.700,0:01:21.800
say the first day is a fantastic goal. If

0:01:21.900,0:01:22.000
someone can be set up with their dev environment

0:01:22.100,0:01:22.200
and able to ship a config file the first

0:01:22.300,0:01:22.400
day, that means that you have pretty great[br]automation

0:01:22.500,0:01:22.600
and a really great onboarding process.

0:01:22.700,0:01:22.800
The next thing is shipping code. You should[br]ship

0:01:22.900,0:01:23.000
small changes and you should teach junior[br]engineers to

0:01:23.100,0:01:23.200
ship small changes as early as possible. So,[br]give

0:01:23.300,0:01:23.400
them a task as soon as they've got their

0:01:23.500,0:01:23.600
dev environment set up and they're ready to[br]go.

0:01:23.700,0:01:23.800
Maybe have them fix a bug or rewrite tests

0:01:23.900,0:01:24.000
or a small feature that's really well-scoped,[br]so that

0:01:24.100,0:01:24.200
they can ship something and be productive[br]and part

0:01:24.300,0:01:24.400
of the team as soon as possible. This is

0:01:24.500,0:01:24.600
great both for your onboarding process, but[br]also it

0:01:24.700,0:01:24.800
helps them feel valuable, which, as we talked[br]about

0:01:24.900,0:01:25.000
earlier, is really key.

0:01:25.100,0:01:25.200
Journaling and note-taking. People will naturally[br]do this. We

0:01:25.300,0:01:25.400
don't memorize all of the commands that we[br]need

0:01:25.500,0:01:25.600
to know, and so we'll write them down. Just,

0:01:25.700,0:01:25.800
just give them a central place to do it.

0:01:25.900,0:01:26.000
Talk to them about it. Ask them about three

0:01:26.100,0:01:26.200
things they learned that day or that week.[br]Just

0:01:26.300,0:01:26.400
kind of put a communication structure around[br]the fact

0:01:26.500,0:01:26.600
that they're probably already taking notes.[br]It will help

0:01:26.700,0:01:26.800
you understand what's confusing for them and[br]it will

0:01:26.900,0:01:27.000
help them remember things.

0:01:27.100,0:01:27.200
And then, finally, have a social event. And[br]do

0:01:27.300,0:01:27.400
this for any engineer that joins your team.[br]No

0:01:27.500,0:01:27.600
one should join a company and sit off in

0:01:27.700,0:01:27.800
the corner alone, not knowing their immediate[br]team mates.

0:01:27.900,0:01:28.000
Have some sort of coffee. Have everyone sit[br]together

0:01:28.100,0:01:28.200
at lunch. Go out for dinner or drinks. It

0:01:28.300,0:01:28.400
doesn't matter what it is. They just need[br]to

0:01:28.500,0:01:28.600
put names to faces and feel comfortable asking[br]questions

0:01:28.700,0:01:28.800
of, at least, their immediate team. Like,[br]you know,

0:01:28.900,0:01:29.000
the five people that they work with. If they

0:01:29.100,0:01:29.200
want to ask someone where a pen is, or

0:01:29.300,0:01:29.400
the bathroom, or they don't know something[br]really simple

0:01:29.500,0:01:29.600
and they feel uncomfortable asking, that's[br]gonna be a

0:01:29.700,0:01:29.800
bad experience right off the bat. And this[br]one

0:01:29.900,0:01:30.000
is so easy. It's just a gimme.

0:01:30.100,0:01:30.200
All right. Week two. Week two is more about

0:01:30.300,0:01:30.400
the context of the company, and also starting[br]to

0:01:30.500,0:01:30.600
have them shadow and, and learn from more[br]senior

0:01:30.700,0:01:30.800
engineers. So, you should tell them the history[br]of

0:01:30.900,0:01:31.000
your company. The history of your company[br]hopefully is

0:01:31.100,0:01:31.200
a pretty interesting story. The history of[br]your company

0:01:31.300,0:01:31.400
is also something they're not really gonna[br]be able

0:01:31.500,0:01:31.600
to absorb the first week. They aren't gonna[br]know

0:01:31.700,0:01:31.800
the characters in, in the story as well as

0:01:31.900,0:01:32.000
they will the second week. So who are the

0:01:32.100,0:01:32.200
founders? Why did they make this company?[br]Who are

0:01:32.300,0:01:32.400
the people that were hired early on? It actually

0:01:32.500,0:01:32.600
is probably gonna tell you a lot about your

0:01:32.700,0:01:32.800
process and your culture as well.

0:01:32.900,0:01:33.000
Additionally, a team map is fantastic. So[br]if you

0:01:33.100,0:01:33.200
have some place where you can put everyone's[br]picture

0:01:33.300,0:01:33.400
and name, generally what they do and what[br]they

0:01:33.500,0:01:33.600
work on, if you can make it a seating

0:01:33.700,0:01:33.800
chart, even better, or put their names above[br]their

0:01:33.900,0:01:34.000
computers. People are gonna forget someone's[br]name. They're gonna

0:01:34.100,0:01:34.200
forget that that guy they talked to five times

0:01:34.300,0:01:34.400
is Andy. And they're gonna be embarrassed[br]to ask

0:01:34.500,0:01:34.600
just like I always am when I forget someone's

0:01:34.700,0:01:34.800
name after talking to them for five times.

0:01:34.900,0:01:35.000
Code labs and shadowing. So code labs are[br]something

0:01:35.100,0:01:35.200
that Eventbrite started doing, and this is[br]a really

0:01:35.300,0:01:35.400
awesome idea. It's basically a safe space[br]for an

0:01:35.500,0:01:35.600
hour once, twice, three times a week, however[br]many

0:01:35.700,0:01:35.800
times, where they can ask someone that's more[br]senior

0:01:35.900,0:01:36.000
any kind of question they want. So you can

0:01:36.100,0:01:36.200
have a code lab for an hour that's on

0:01:36.300,0:01:36.400
frontend development. Or a code lab for an[br]hour

0:01:36.500,0:01:36.600
on dev ops. And the most important thing about

0:01:36.700,0:01:36.800
these code labs is actually not the topic.[br]It's

0:01:36.900,0:01:37.000
that it's safe. So when you're thinking about[br]picking

0:01:37.100,0:01:37.200
engineers to run these code labs, think about[br]picking

0:01:37.300,0:01:37.400
engineers who are going to create a safe space

0:01:37.500,0:01:37.600
for these junior developers to ask questions.[br]Feeling stupid

0:01:37.700,0:01:37.800
when asking questions is pretty typical, especially[br]when you're

0:01:37.900,0:01:38.000
new. You want some place where they don't[br]feel

0:01:38.100,0:01:38.200
that way.

0:01:38.300,0:01:38.400
Shadowing is also a great way to get people

0:01:38.500,0:01:38.600
up to speed. This actually is a great thing

0:01:38.700,0:01:38.800
to do at any level. But pair them with

0:01:38.900,0:01:39.000
someone who's more senior. Have them sit with[br]them

0:01:39.100,0:01:39.200
for an hour a day or a week. And

0:01:39.300,0:01:39.400
just watch their process. How do they build[br]code?

0:01:39.500,0:01:39.600
How do they get things done? What tools do

0:01:39.700,0:01:39.800
they use? One of the things to think about,

0:01:39.900,0:01:40.000
though, when pairing people for shadowing,[br]is that we

0:01:40.100,0:01:40.200
will forgive a lot of bad habits in more

0:01:40.300,0:01:40.400
mid-level or senior engineers that we won't[br]forgive in

0:01:40.500,0:01:40.600
junior engineers.

0:01:40.700,0:01:40.800
So I've seen this happen a lot where junior

0:01:40.900,0:01:41.000
engineers are following someone who's more[br]senior, and they're

0:01:41.100,0:01:41.200
doing a great job, actually, of picking things[br]up.

0:01:41.300,0:01:41.400
They're learning a ton. And some of the things

0:01:41.500,0:01:41.600
they're learning are not so good. And so they

0:01:41.700,0:01:41.800
end up getting punished for these habits that[br]they

0:01:41.900,0:01:42.000
learned directly from a senior engineer. So[br]make sure

0:01:42.100,0:01:42.200
that you take a look, whenever you see someone

0:01:42.300,0:01:42.400
doing something, who's new or young, take[br]a look

0:01:42.500,0:01:42.600
at where they learned that from. If they learned

0:01:42.700,0:01:42.800
it from someone else, try to just encourage[br]them

0:01:42.900,0:01:43.000
to go in the right direction.

0:01:43.100,0:01:43.200
There's nothing worse, when you're new, than[br]spending all

0:01:43.300,0:01:43.400
this time following someone, learning something,[br]and then later

0:01:43.500,0:01:43.600
being told that you're doing it wrong. You're[br]like,

0:01:43.700,0:01:43.800
well then why did I follow this person around?

0:01:43.900,0:01:44.000
All right. Week three is a lot about communication.

0:01:44.100,0:01:44.200
Goal-setting. Feedback. Presentations. So[br]for a junior engineer, at

0:01:44.300,0:01:44.400
this, up to this point, you've probably been[br]doing

0:01:44.500,0:01:44.600
a lot of high-touch interactions. You've probably[br]been working

0:01:44.700,0:01:44.800
with them fairly constantly. By week three[br]you can

0:01:44.900,0:01:45.000
start scaling back. Give them more independence.[br]Give them

0:01:45.100,0:01:45.200
more free time. But set up weekly one-on-ones.[br]This

0:01:45.300,0:01:45.400
is a structured, expected thing where they[br]can give

0:01:45.500,0:01:45.600
you feedback. Maybe they can spend ten minutes[br]talking

0:01:45.700,0:01:45.800
about something they learned this week. You[br]can start

0:01:45.900,0:01:46.000
doing goal-setting.

0:01:46.100,0:01:46.200
Which, by week three, hopefully they have[br]a better

0:01:46.300,0:01:46.400
idea of what they want to do next. Maybe

0:01:46.500,0:01:46.600
not what they want to do with their whole

0:01:46.700,0:01:46.800
life, but maybe next they want to focus on

0:01:46.900,0:01:47.000
frontend. They want to get really, really[br]good at

0:01:47.100,0:01:47.200
implementing features for users. Or maybe[br]they absolutely love

0:01:47.300,0:01:47.400
dev ops and infrastructure and they want to[br]work

0:01:47.500,0:01:47.600
more on that.

0:01:47.700,0:01:47.800
So you can start setting these short and long-term

0:01:47.900,0:01:48.000
goals so that they feel like they're moving[br]forward.

0:01:48.100,0:01:48.200
Feedback is also really important. Give feedback[br]early. Give

0:01:48.300,0:01:48.400
feedback often. Some of the biggest complaints[br]that people

0:01:48.500,0:01:48.600
have about their managers is that they don't[br]get

0:01:48.700,0:01:48.800
any feedback from them. So, as engineers,[br]we tend

0:01:48.900,0:01:49.000
to be fairly critical and a little bit cynical,

0:01:49.100,0:01:49.200
which I think is healthy. But when you're[br]giving

0:01:49.300,0:01:49.400
feedback to someone, especially if they're[br]junior, remember, they

0:01:49.500,0:01:49.600
don't know what they're doing well, either.[br]They actually

0:01:49.700,0:01:49.800
don't, they don't really have a good idea[br]of

0:01:49.900,0:01:50.000
what they're doing that's good or bad.

0:01:50.100,0:01:50.200
And I'll give you another sports analogy.[br]When I

0:01:50.300,0:01:50.400
was coaching, so I'm coaching beginners. Absolute[br]beginners. And

0:01:50.500,0:01:50.600
I'm standing on the pool deck, kind of yelling

0:01:50.700,0:01:50.800
things at them. And they'd go to do, like,

0:01:50.900,0:01:51.000
they'd go to throw the ball, like they'd go

0:01:51.100,0:01:51.200
to shoot and they'd drop their elbow, and[br]I'd

0:01:51.300,0:01:51.400
yell don't drop your elbow! And it look like

0:01:51.500,0:01:51.600
these kids hit a brick wall. They would just

0:01:51.700,0:01:51.800
stop and sink in the water and look at

0:01:51.900,0:01:52.000
me. Which I realized was exactly not the behavior

0:01:52.100,0:01:52.200
that I wanted from them. What I wanted them

0:01:52.300,0:01:52.400
to do was I wanted them to keep their

0:01:52.500,0:01:52.600
elbow up.

0:01:52.700,0:01:52.800
So I thought about this for awhile, and then

0:01:52.900,0:01:53.000
I decided to just start yelling at them all

0:01:53.100,0:01:53.200
the things that I wanted them to do. So

0:01:53.300,0:01:53.400
I took the words no and don't out of

0:01:53.500,0:01:53.600
my vocabulary, which is a really, really fun[br]game,

0:01:53.700,0:01:53.800
if anyone wants a hobby. So I started yelling

0:01:53.900,0:01:54.000
things at them like, keep your elbow up. Keep

0:01:54.100,0:01:54.200
your hips up. And I saw the most amazing

0:01:54.300,0:01:54.400
thing happen. They all started doing exactly[br]what I

0:01:54.500,0:01:54.600
wanted.

0:01:54.700,0:01:54.800
They started, they started moving forward[br]faster. They were

0:01:54.900,0:01:55.000
excited. They felt confident. And there was[br]no, there

0:01:55.100,0:01:55.200
was nothing except that I just took all of

0:01:55.300,0:01:55.400
these negative words and negative phrases[br]out and told

0:01:55.500,0:01:55.600
them what I wanted and they did it. So,

0:01:55.700,0:01:55.800
when you're thinking about yelling things[br]at your junior

0:01:55.900,0:01:56.000
engineers, try yelling at them what you want[br]them

0:01:56.100,0:01:56.200
to do as opposed to what you don't want

0:01:56.300,0:01:56.400
them to do.

0:01:56.500,0:01:56.600
Presentations are also really great for communication.[br]We don't

0:01:56.700,0:01:56.800
program in vaccuums. We often work on teams.[br]We

0:01:56.900,0:01:57.000
need to be able to communicate technical concepts[br]to

0:01:57.100,0:01:57.200
other people in a really clear and concise[br]way.

0:01:57.300,0:01:57.400
So make them practice. Give them a topic once

0:01:57.500,0:01:57.600
a month, a technical topic, maybe it's regexes,[br]maybe

0:01:57.700,0:01:57.800
it's the ORM layer, and have them give a

0:01:57.900,0:01:58.000
five to ten minute presentation to the rest[br]of

0:01:58.100,0:01:58.200
the team on it.

0:01:58.300,0:01:58.400
Week four. Week four, you're gonna continue[br]scaling back.

0:01:58.500,0:01:58.600
You want them to be independent. You want[br]them

0:01:58.700,0:01:58.800
to be autonomous. So you're gonna continue[br]taking yourself

0:01:58.900,0:01:59.000
out. Review concepts. Check in regularly in[br]your one-on-ones.

0:01:59.100,0:01:59.200
You can start to tell them things like, if

0:01:59.300,0:01:59.400
you hit a bug, I want you to research

0:01:59.500,0:01:59.600
things for an hour before you come talk to

0:01:59.700,0:01:59.800
me. So set really clear expectations, but[br]have them

0:01:59.900,0:02:00.000
go off on their own. Have them do research

0:02:00.100,0:02:00.200
on their own. Have them get used to that

0:02:00.300,0:02:00.400
feeling of hitting your head up against a[br]wall

0:02:00.500,0:02:00.600
because you're super frustrated with a problem.[br]This is

0:02:00.700,0:02:00.800
good. They need to learn those things.

0:02:00.900,0:02:01.000
Also, make shadowing elective. Let them choose[br]who they

0:02:01.100,0:02:01.200
want to shadow and when. So start off-loading[br]decisions

0:02:01.300,0:02:01.400
about what they do to the engineer. Also,[br]have

0:02:01.500,0:02:01.600
them start co-piloting a larger project with[br]someone else.

0:02:01.700,0:02:01.800
The concept is kind of like drivers' ed in

0:02:01.900,0:02:02.000
the U.S. In drivers' ed in the U.S., you're

0:02:02.100,0:02:02.200
paired with an instructor who actually has[br]a break

0:02:02.300,0:02:02.400
on their side, so if you decide to careen

0:02:02.500,0:02:02.600
on a cliff or something, they can hit the

0:02:02.700,0:02:02.800
breaks and stop you. So pair them with someone

0:02:02.900,0:02:03.000
who still has enough control that they can[br]stop

0:02:03.100,0:02:03.200
them from doing anything that's really dangerous,[br]but they're

0:02:03.300,0:02:03.400
also working on bigger projects now and learning[br]from

0:02:03.500,0:02:03.600
someone who's more senior.

0:02:03.700,0:02:03.800
Beyond. So, keep checking in on goals. Keep[br]talking

0:02:03.900,0:02:04.000
to them. Make sure you have really structured[br]channels

0:02:04.100,0:02:04.200
for communication. Start tailoring their projects,[br]code labs, et

0:02:04.300,0:02:04.400
cetera to their progress. And this is the[br]part

0:02:04.500,0:02:04.600
where you can start doing things like informal[br]apprenticeships

0:02:04.700,0:02:04.800
and assessing their progress. Although you[br]should be assessing

0:02:04.900,0:02:05.000
it this whole time.

0:02:05.100,0:02:05.200
Apprenticeship is a concept that has worked[br]for many

0:02:05.300,0:02:05.400
thousands of years in many, many different[br]trade industries.

0:02:05.500,0:02:05.600
So, blacksmithing, roof-thatching, I don't[br]know. But at this

0:02:05.700,0:02:05.800
point, they should know more specifically[br]what they're gonna

0:02:05.900,0:02:06.000
want to work on long-term. So have them be

0:02:06.100,0:02:06.200
an apprentice to someone who's more senior[br]at this.

0:02:06.300,0:02:06.400
So if they want to do dev ops, they

0:02:06.500,0:02:06.600
can go work on the dev ops team with

0:02:06.700,0:02:06.800
a more senior engineer, and they might do[br]a

0:02:06.900,0:02:07.000
lot of grunt-work tasks. They might do a lot

0:02:07.100,0:02:07.200
of the things that no one else wants to

0:02:07.300,0:02:07.400
do at this point. But they're learning. And[br]as

0:02:07.500,0:02:07.600
they learn and they grow they get more involved

0:02:07.700,0:02:07.800
tasks, and they get to solve more exciting[br]problems.

0:02:07.900,0:02:08.000
Assessment. So you're gonna see wildly different[br]trajectories with

0:02:08.100,0:02:08.199
people. And hopefully the more systematic[br]your process gets,

0:02:08.300,0:02:08.400
the more you're able to deal with this. But

0:02:08.500,0:02:08.600
some people are just gonna take off running[br]and

0:02:08.699,0:02:08.800
they're gonna be fine. Other people are gonna[br]have

0:02:08.900,0:02:09.000
ups and downs. And so you're gonna want to

0:02:09.100,0:02:09.199
have some sort of way of assessing how they're

0:02:09.300,0:02:09.400
doing. And when someone's not doing the way[br]you

0:02:09.500,0:02:09.600
expect, the answer isn't always they're a[br]bad programmer.

0:02:09.699,0:02:09.800
In fact, we came up with five assessment categories.

0:02:09.900,0:02:10.000
Confidence, code quality, communication, judgement,[br]and technical knowledge. And

0:02:10.100,0:02:10.199
this is just a start. If someone is afraid

0:02:10.300,0:02:10.400
to ship code, they might lack confidence.[br]And so

0:02:10.500,0:02:10.600
helping to bolster their confidence will see[br]huge results.

0:02:10.699,0:02:10.800
Additionally, if they're building features[br]that don't make sense,

0:02:10.900,0:02:11.000
they might lack judgment. And in order to[br]have

0:02:11.100,0:02:11.200
good judgment, you need a lot of context about

0:02:11.300,0:02:11.400
who uses your product and why. So maybe they

0:02:11.500,0:02:11.600
should go spend more time working with customer[br]support

0:02:11.700,0:02:11.800
and answering support tickets so that they[br]can learn

0:02:11.900,0:02:12.000
how people use the product so they have better

0:02:12.100,0:02:12.200
judgement. Sometimes they just need to learn[br]more about

0:02:12.300,0:02:12.400
a particular tool, and that one's pretty easy.

0:02:12.500,0:02:12.600
OK. Hopefully you guys have had a fair number

0:02:12.700,0:02:12.800
of take-aways. Hopefully you now know about[br]the concept

0:02:12.900,0:02:13.000
of team debt. You're thinking about doing[br]an onboarding

0:02:13.100,0:02:13.200
plan now. But, if you take away only three

0:02:13.300,0:02:13.400
things, I hope you take away these three things.

0:02:13.500,0:02:13.600
First off, the goal of onboarding is to make

0:02:13.700,0:02:13.800
people confident, productive, and independent.[br]Reliably independent. And so

0:02:13.900,0:02:14.000
that can have to do with their level. But

0:02:14.100,0:02:14.200
it's not about making someone into a senior[br]engineer

0:02:14.300,0:02:14.400
overnight.

0:02:14.500,0:02:14.600
Second, onboarding benefits everyone in the[br]long run. It

0:02:14.700,0:02:14.800
benefits the individual joining, it benefits[br]your company's bottom-line,

0:02:14.900,0:02:15.000
it benefits the productivity of the team,[br]and it's

0:02:15.100,0:02:15.200
also great for diversity.

0:02:15.300,0:02:15.400
And finally, anyone at your company can be[br]involved

0:02:15.500,0:02:15.600
in onboarding. So, as I said before, some[br]of

0:02:15.700,0:02:15.800
your best onboarders are not gonna be senior[br]engineers.

0:02:15.900,0:02:16.000
They're gonna be the people who were just[br]junior

0:02:16.100,0:02:16.200
engineers themselves.

0:02:16.300,0:02:16.400
OK. So, start improving your onboarding process[br]now. There's

0:02:16.500,0:02:16.600
actually a code repository, or not code, but[br]just

0:02:16.700,0:02:16.800
a GitHub repository that has some assessment[br]rubrics. It

0:02:16.900,0:02:17.000
has the plan in a lot more detail. It

0:02:17.100,0:02:17.200
also has some tools for, for learning, like,[br]online

0:02:17.300,0:02:17.400
tools for learning Ruby and Rails. And if[br]you

0:02:17.500,0:02:17.600
have questions, feel free to ask them now.[br]If

0:02:17.700,0:02:17.800
you are terrified of yelling questions out[br]in a

0:02:17.900,0:02:18.000
pubilc forum, which I absolutely am, you can[br]come

0:02:18.100,0:02:18.200
find me later. I'll also be around for the

0:02:18.300,0:02:18.400
rest of the conference. So thank you.