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Dialogue: 0,0:00:09.15,0:00:14.08,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you. Yes. So, um, for those of you\Nwho were at the last
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,talk, thank you for your loyalty.\NI'm gonna talk about technical onboarding
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,training and mentoring now; it's probably
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not going to be quite as funny.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a linear talk, unlike our
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,choose-your-own-adventure story last time.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Uh. This is originally a joint talk that was
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,given at PyCon. I'm Kate Heddleston;
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's my Twitter handle, so you can,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you know, tweet thoughts at me.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm a software engineer at Runscope.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We make these sweet shirts that say
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"everything is going to be 200 OK".
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Um, if you want one of them, you can come
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,find me afterwards.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And Nicole Zuckerman was originally my
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,co-presenter. She's a software engineer at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Eventbrite. And I'll let you figure out which
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,one of these two people is her. But
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,basically Nicole and I came together to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,create this talk because we had similar
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,experiences at separate companies.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Nicole went to Hackbright Academy and then
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,went to Eventbrite right afterwards.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I went to a small startup out of college
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and at both of our respective companies,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we -- there wasn't any onboarding. I've mostly
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,worked at companies that were smaller than
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,12 people when I joined, so onboarding was
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,not a huge priority. About a year later, I
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,had gained some confidence, many skills,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like real-world skills. And I looked back
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I thought, there's some things that we
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can do, even as small startups, to make
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the onboarding experience better. To make
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it easier for people to get up to speed at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,your company without having a huge
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,overhead. Without having to build these
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,massive onboarding programs that they have
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at large companies.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alright. So, what is onboarding?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,For the purposes of this talk, onboarding,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as a definition, is going to be the act of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,taking someone from outside of the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,company, the team, whatever group of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people it is, and making them a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,productive, independent, and confident
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,member of your team. And this sounds
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really nice, right? If all employees were
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,productive and confident and independent,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like, that sounds like a really great
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineering environment. Unfortunately,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that isn't the case a lot of times. Um,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone shared a blog post with me the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,other day with their thoughts on
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,onboarding, and he was like yeah, our
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,company is trying to change onboarding so
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it's not so much about lighting
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone on fire and then telling them to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,find water and it's a little more
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,welcoming. It's like, that's good.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So to go through these three things -
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,productivity, independence, and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,confidence - Productivity is pretty simple.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's about creating efficient employees.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This has to do with giving them the tools
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to write code, deploy code, understand how
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,features get built. Basically get their
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,jobs done.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Independence and autonomy is actually
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,huge. Autonomy, uh, being an autonomous
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,agent is really important to people. The
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,greatest motivations, in fact, come
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through things that we choose for
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ourselves. The anecdote that I have for
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is in prisons. They discovered that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,autonomy is really important. So when
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people are in prison environments, a lot
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of their rights and abilities to do things
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are removed. This leads to riots,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,dissatisfaction, and many things that you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would think would happen. So what they do
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with prisoners is they give them the right
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to change the channel, and they give them
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the right to move their furniture around.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this little bit of autonomy, this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ability to choose for themselves what they
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,get to do, even though it's very small,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reduced prison riots by - significantly.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You want to reduce riots at your company
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by giving people the ability to choose the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,TV channel.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Confidence. Confidence is about creating
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,employees who believe that they are
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,valuable. And the word 'belief' is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,actually really, really important. So a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lot of people think - they might think
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'arrogance' and they might think
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'confidence' and they might think a lot of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,things, but this belief in your value to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the company is paramount. And this is very
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,much a human thing. This doesn't really
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have to do with computers. This just has
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to do with creating an environment where
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,companies feel as though they can enact
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,change, and that they are capable of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,enacting change.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Oh. This - the belief is really important.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Also they did a study. So how many of you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have heard of the concept of 'stereotype
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,effect'? Stereotype - do I smell? Okay.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the stereotype effect works like this.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There are stereotypes in the world.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Asians are good at math." "Women are bad
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with computers." And what they've found is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that, before tests, tests on things like
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,physics or math, what they'll do is they
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,reminded one group of this stereotype.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"Women are bad at math; men are better at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,math. Asians are better at math than all
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of those groups." And what they found was,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when they reminded people of those
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stereotypes, people performed to the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stereotype. If they didn't tell anyone at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all, people performed in a control group
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,setting, and then the third group that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they did is that they told people that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their ability to do well on the test came
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from these sort of intrinsic motivators,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like if you work hard you'll be good at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,math, if you think about like your own
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,personal qualities that's helpful, what
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they saw was that everyone's performance
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,improved and there was actually no
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,difference across these different lines.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So stereotype effect is really important.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's this belief that you are good at - at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something or not. And what's funny is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just being told that you are good at this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,might actually change your performance.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Okay. Why do you care?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Um, you're all already here, so you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,probably care about technical onboarding
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and training at your company. Maybe you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have to hire a bunch of new engineers out
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of college, maybe you have a bunch of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,interns coming on board and you're like
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,terrified, because what are you going to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,do with all of those interns.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's four categories that you should
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,care about when thinking about onboarding.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's the individual, there's the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,company, there's the team, and then
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's also a bonus section on diversity.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Onboarding is really important for the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,individual. The cost of losing an employee
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can range from tens of thousands of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,dollars to 1.5-2x their salary. If
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone gets off to the wrong foot at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,your company, if they're not happy, if
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they never get up to speed, if they never
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,feel autonomous, confident, and productive
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at your company, you're probably going to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lose them. And that's really expensive. So
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,having good onboarding, just getting
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everyone off to a good start, is really
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,important for individuals. It gets them
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going upwards like this. It builds their
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,skills, their confidence, their happiness.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The next one is the company. Onboarding is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really important for the collective
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,productivity of the company, and the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,anecdote for this one is at LinkedIn. For
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a while, LinkedIn was actually losing
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,productivity for every engineer that was
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,added to their team. And this was a huge
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,crisis. They actually had to bring in some
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,new executives, some new managers, and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they were like, we have to stop hiring.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like, adding engineers to our team is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,actually decreasing our productivity. This
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a nightmare. Uh. What you really want
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is something more like this. We want every
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,new engineer we add to the team to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,increase productivity. So LinkedIn had to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,do this massive reorganization. They had
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to do a whole bunch of getting rid of some
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,things, adding some things, adding
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,onboarding and training, and basically
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,streamlining everything so that new
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers could come in and be productive.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So onboarding and having onboarding early
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is going to stave off some of these
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,problems that you might run into later.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Team. So we talk a lot about technical
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,debt - how many people have talked about,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or heard about, the term 'technical debt'?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- yeah, you went to build something really
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fast, you kind of cut corners, and six
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,months later you're like aw crap, we have
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to rebuild this, we have a lot of bugs,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is completely unmaintainable. Nobody
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,knows how to change this system. Well,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,similarly there's team debt. If you add a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,lot of engineers really fast and really
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,thoughtlessly, you can get something like
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this happening. Everyone's running in a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,different direction. And since people are
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the most important component for building
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,software, um, this is really, really
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,detrimental. You want something that's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more like this. Obviously.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is my favorite equation that I've
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ever made up. The story behind this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,equation, and I have a lot of sports
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,anecdotes, 'cause I played sports for a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,long time, and I coached sports for a long
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,time. But in college when I was done
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,playing, I actually coached JV girls'
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,swimming and water polo. So - JV girls'
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,water polo, very new to most of the girls.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They couldn't swim, they couldn't throw a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ball, we're talking like very basic
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,skills. Playing a full game, with like all
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seven players on the field, was, I mean it
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was like, you know when you watch like
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,peewee soccer and all the kids kind of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like chase the ball around? It's a little
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bit like that. And so a huge amount of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what I did was just basic skills. But the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,other half was kind of the emotional
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,team-building part. And I told them this.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was like, look. Your ability to win
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,games, and your ability to do well at this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sport, even at this very introductory
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,level, is the sum of your talent multiplied
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by your ability to work together as a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,team. Some of the people on the team
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,didn't have a lot of natural talent. They
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were going to have to work really hard to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,build their skills. But that's fine.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Because if they focused a lot on working
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,together, they focused a lot on getting
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,things done as a cohesive unit, they can
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,actually beat teams that had more
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,collective talent, but didn't work
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,together quite as well. And we've actually
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seen this in software engineering. A lot
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of, uh, the most popular tools out there
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,were built by teams of less than ten.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Gmail, for example, was built by a team of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I think like five to seven people? It's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,maintained by, like, a team of over 400
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers. So you can get a lot done
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,collectively as a small group in terms of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,productivity, in terms of building really
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,cool products, without having super
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,talented engineers. If they all work
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really well together, a lot of mediocre
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers can do more than a few talented
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers who are kind of assholes.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alright. The bonus section is diversity.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So to illustrate diversity, I have
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sneetches. The story of sneetches is a Dr.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Seuss book. There's the star-bellied
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sneetches and the non-star-bellied
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sneetches. And it's this story about the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rift that's caused in the community of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sneetches based on those who had star
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bellies and those who did not have star
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bellies. And I use it to represent
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,diversity because diversity can mean a lot
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of things. There's the classic ones,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's gender and racial diversity.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's also things like introverts vs
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,extroverts. Um. Communication styles.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't know. Philosophical backgrounds.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Cultural backgrounds that don't have to do
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with race but have to do with how you were
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,brought up. So diversity can mean a lot
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of things at companies. And why is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,diversity critical? And why is onboarding
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a really useful tool for increasing\Ndiversity?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Well, basically what happens is this. If
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you have no onboarding, people coming into
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the company are going to rely on the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,existing social structures to get up to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,speed. So that means whatever the original
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,group of people is, they probably have a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,way that they talk about things. They
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,probably have certain social events that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they do. They probably look fairly
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,similar. And if someone comes onboard
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who's like them, who's able to communicate,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who's able to go out with them, who's able
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to connect with this core group based on
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these existing social structures, they're
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going to do better than someone who's not
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like the original group. Because what you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have when you have no onboarding is not
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no onboarding. You have onboarding that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,relies on the social structures that you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have in place. So creating an onboarding
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,program that's slightly more structured,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,slightly more explicit, will benefit
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people who are different, people who don't
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,naturally speak the way that people at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,your company already speak, that don't
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,naturally want to do the types of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,activities that people at your company
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,wanna do. Because not everyone wants to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,go out drinking at 10pm on a Tuesday night
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,if you have a really young, party-oriented
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,company. So you want to give everyone
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a fair chance because there's very
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,talented people who look very different
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from each other.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Who can onboard? Anyone can onboard!
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This is a team of people carrying a canoe,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is not a group of ants carrying a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,taco, just to let you know. I draw these
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,myself, by the way. I'm not a very good
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,artist. Um. Anyone can onboard, and in
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fact onboarding should be a collective
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,effort. This distributes the load.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One person alone trying to onboard
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everyone is gonna burn them out.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Similarly, I was talking to someone about
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mentorship, and someone else was saying,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,oh, you have to have a lot of experience
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to mentor. And depending on the type of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mentoring you're doing, that's true.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But going from junior engineer to senior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineer is not a one-step process.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It involves going from junior engineer to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,less-junior engineer, to less-junior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineer, to maybe mid-level engineer, to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,slightly more mid-level engineer, to 'hey!
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,oh! I kind of think I get this now!'
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And so having someone that's very
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,experienced, who can guide the overall
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,path is important, but some of the best
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people to mentor and train your new junior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers are going to be the ones who
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just did it. They're going to still have
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,empathy for what it's like to take\Nthat step.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're going to understand the problems
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that they're running into. They're going
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to actually care about what this person is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,doing, and the more senior you get and the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,further away from that you get, the less
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,empathy that you have for people. And in
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,fact we all know this. Senior engineers
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are total curmudgeons. They're like,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,'everything is going to break and it's all
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going to hell and I don't know why we care
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and come into work every day.' And junior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers are like, 'oh my god, that's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,awful, I'm so excited about\Nwhat I'm doing.'
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When? Okay. Onboarding starts as soon as
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the offer is accepted.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Basically, onboarding is not just about
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,teaching someone the skills that they need
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be successful about your company;
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's about bringing another human being
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into a group of human beings. So: making
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone feel welcome. Figuring out how to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,integrate them into the team. That's going
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to start as soon as they've decided\Nto come on board.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Onboarding roughly ends when someone is \Nreliably independent.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this can mean different things to\Ndifferent companies,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I left it kind of vague on purpose,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the idea for a junior engineer\Nat least
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that we bring them into the company and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're kind of - like our onboarding
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,program is done when they're reliably\Nindependent.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We can give them tasks and trust that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're going to come up with
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a semi-reasonable solution
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in a semi-reasonable amount of time.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we can manage that effectively.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the how section that we're going to go
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,through now is a little bit
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,philosophically about how to do this,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we're also going to focus on concrete
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,examples and ideas for how you can build
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the onboarding program at your company.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first thing to think about when\Nonboarding people
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is to maximize your return on investment.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this might seem somewhat callous, but
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the end of the day why wouldn't you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,want to maximize your return on\Ninvestment?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like you don't want to put a ton of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,resources into something and get less out
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of it than you put in. That just doesn't
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even make sense.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's a really, really common pitfall for
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mentors, especially first-time mentors.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So if you have people onboarding junior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers at your company and they've
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,never onboarded someone, what you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,essentially have is you have a\Njunior mentor
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,onboarding a junior engineer.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That you have someone who's never done
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this before, they don't know what's going\Non.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I love talking to people who are\Nfirst-time mentors.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're like, I'm going to be the best
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,onboarding mentor ever. We're going to do
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everything together, we're going to take
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these courses, we're just going to -
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by the, by time they're done with these
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,three months they're going to know
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everything I know.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's highly unrealistic because
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people only absorb information at\Ncertain rates.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Also your expertise has to do with the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,number of issues that you've seen, and it
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just takes time. Over time you see more
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,issues, you solve them, you fix them.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So people are going to grow at the rate
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're going to grow. You can help
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,make that better, you can help focus their\Npath,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but you're not going to make them into a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,senior engineer overnight.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This tends to burn out mentors, so
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people do this, they burn themselves out
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in three months because it's exhausting
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,teaching someone, and then they're like,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I can't be a mentor again for another\Nyear.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And your company's like, well, OK, I guess
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we can't hire any more junior engineers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like, we don't have anyone to train them.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Instead I like to think of it as
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bumper bowling.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One of the tenets of expertise is that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you're able to set boundaries. You know
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the landscape. You know everything about
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this arena. So you can set boundaries.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You can scope problems. You can figure
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,out exactly what needs to be done, and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,exactly what doesn't need to be done.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Junior engineers, by definition, are not
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,good at scoping. They don't know what the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,boundaries are. So what you need to do is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,set them for the junior engineers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Bumper bowling is a great example.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You just - you set up the bumpers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's fine if they just hit the bumper on
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,each side going down. They're still
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going in that direction, and that's where
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we want them to go. You don't have to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,handhold them through the process.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You don't have to spend tons of time with
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,them. Instead you can just create an
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,environment where they can kind of mess up
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and learn on their own, and you can come
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in and help them grow when that needs to\Nhappen.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So the onboarding plan - there's three
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,major categories.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's technical knowledge, company
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,knowledge and process, and personal\Ndevelopment.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,These are about equal thirds for someone.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We tend to think that the technical
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,knowledge is the most important thing, and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's, people think it's like 80% of what
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers do. It's probably about a third.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Like, another third is domain knowledge of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that company. How do I build a feature at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this company. How do I ship code at this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,company. How do I deploy, given our
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,deployment system. And then personal
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,development. Like the confidence, the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,autonomy, all of those different things,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's another third. People tend to think
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that skills - or that confidence follows
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,skills, but in practice it's usually the\Nreverse.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,People who are confident will gain skills
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at a much more rapid rate than people
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who lack confidence.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,OK. Week 1. Week 1 should be pretty simple
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for new engineers. Dev environment setup
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is really important. The thing that you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can do to help new engineers is just
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,automate as many tools as possible.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The more automation the better.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The more maintainability the better.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As engineers, that is one of the best
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,things we can do for people's process, is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,make sure that a lot of these things are
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,automated. So shipping code as well.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If shipping code is really well-automated,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's super easy for you to ship code,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's going to be easy to bring someone,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even someone who's junior, on board,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and get them to a place where they can\Nship code.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So for dev environments, again, automation.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Have the last person who set up the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,dev environment help the new person.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They know all the pitfalls. They just
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,did it. They just had to go through
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,setting up their development environment.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,You don't need a senior engineer, you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,don't need someone who knows a lot about
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,some other random thing. It's just dev
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,environment setup. So the last person who
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,joined does dev environment setup.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Have them ship small changes as soon as\Npossible.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you can have someone deploy on the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,first day, that's awesome. That means you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have really good automation tools.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Third, journaling and note-taking.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Have them start taking notes. Three things
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that they learned this week. For junior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers, this is going to be really\Nimportant.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They're probably not going to know a lot\Nof things,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you're going to be surprised at what
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they do and don't know, so having them
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,take notes that you can talk about once a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,week is really great.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And then finally, a social event. And a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,social event's actually a really good
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,activity, even for people who are not
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,junior. A social event's just: we're gonna
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hang out, I'm going to learn everyone on
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my immediate team's name, because if I
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,want to ask a question, it's really nice
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to know that person's name. And I'm going
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to feel more comfortable talking to other
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people on my team. Because a huge amount
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of work that you need when you're new,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,regardless of level, is just the ability
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to go talk to someone else on your team.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alright. Week 2. Week 2 you can start
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,throwing more information at your new\Nengineer.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The first week is so overwhelming
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a lot of times that things just go in one
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ear and out the other. So I recommend
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,doing history of the company and team map
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,second week. So history of the company -
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where does the company come from,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,why was it started, who were the founders,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what was the reason that it got here,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what were some of the pitfalls that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,happened along the way, why do we target
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the markets that we target. And a\Nteam map,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which seems really simple, but just giving
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,them a map - like, this is Bob, Bob sits
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,over there, Bob is really good at redis,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,he deals with all of our asynchronous
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,task queues, um, so go talk to him about
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that. Or, like, so-and-so is really good
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at building fully-fledged future products.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They have a great design sense, but
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're also good at building front-end
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,features. So knowing those things is super
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,helpful to new engineers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Shadowing and code labs are good
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,activities to get started the second or
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,third week. Shadowing is what it sounds
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like. Have them sit down with someone
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who's more senior, either mid-level or
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,senior, whatever you want to do, and watch
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,what that other person does. What kind of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,keyboard shortcuts do they use? What type
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of bash commands do they use? What does
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that bash command do? Why are they doing
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all of the things that they're doing? They
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,can learn and absorb a lot of information
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,just by watching other people for an hour,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,either once a week or every day if you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,want to be really aggressive.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Code labs are something that was started
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at Eventbrite. Basically it's like a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,new engineer AMA. So it's a safe space -
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,emphasis on the word safe, no judgment,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,your questions are not stupid - it's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,totally fine if they want to ask concepts
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that might seem really beginner, but
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they can just ask one of the engineers
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at your company anything. So you can
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rotate the engineers, people with
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,different expertise can come in, but
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really what you want for the person
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,running a Code Lab is someone who makes
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people feel safe. Again, if people are
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,terrified of asking questions they're not
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going to ask questions.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Week 3. Now we start to get into some
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the higher-level stuff. One-on-ones,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,goal-setting, feedback, presentations.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,One-on-ones. Most companies have totally
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bought into the idea that you need to do
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these now, but weekly one-on-ones are
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really important. Emphasis on weekly.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Having channels for feedback, for easy
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,communication, is so important. If
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone runs into an issue, the overhead
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for telling someone who's more senior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about this problem that they've run
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into is really high. Having to schedule a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,meeting to give someone bad news is one
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the worst things that anyone has to do.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So creating these channels for constant
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,feedback is really important. Even if
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,every week they're like, 'I'm doing great,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there's nothing to talk about!'
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That's totally fine. This is still
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a really good thing to do.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Goal-setting and feedback: it might seem
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really silly and simple and kind of like,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,second-grade - what are your goals\Nfor this?
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But people are goal-oriented, and they do
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really well if they set goals. 'In the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,next three months I would like to learn
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more about how to build features in
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,JavaScript. In the next six months, I'd
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really like to learn how to build the API
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,layer for the features that I've built\Nin JavaScript.'
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Presentations. The best way to learn
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something is to teach it. This has been
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,proven over and over again. So, force your
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,new engineers to do five-minute
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,presentations on topics. 'I want you to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,present on regular expressions. Tell us
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,everything that you can figure out about
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,regular expressions, do a short
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,presentation about them, teach us regular
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,expressions.' And by the end of that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,presentation, they'll know how to use
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,regular expressions. By the way, I gave
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this talk at RailsConf, which is ruby, and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I totally didn't even think about what I'd
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,written on this slide here, but multiple
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people at the end came up and they were
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like, you do know that that was in Python,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,right? I was like, yeah, Python is\Nawesome.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They notice.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alright. Week 4. Week 4 is review\Nconcepts,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,check in regular, regularly, elective
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,shadowing, and start co-piloting,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,co-piloting a larger project. So basically
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,now you're just kind of setting, getting
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,set into a rhythm. You want to be able to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,check in with them, you want them to feel
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,as if they can talk to you, shadowing can
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,become elective, hopefully they have
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,enough confidence now to say, oh I want to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,shadow that person and learn that thing,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and go set it up for themselves.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Co-piloting a larger project is kind of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like driver's ed. They can do this with
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone who's much more senior, but the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,senior person really has an emergency
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,brake on their side, so they can give them
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tasks - Actually, the way I, the way I
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like to do it is, if you put them with
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone who's more senior, they do all
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the grunt tasks. The senior person
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,doesn't want to do, I don't know, all of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,these grunt tasks that are too trivial
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for them, but just work that has to get
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,done, but that is really valuable learning
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for someone who's junior. They've never
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seen any of it before. So it's exciting.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So then you have these really great
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,pairings of someone who's very senior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and someone who's very junior, and the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,junior person's running around doing all
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the grunt work and super-excited about it,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the senior person is thrilled that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they don't have to do the grunt work any\Nmore.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alright. Beyond. If onboarding has gone
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,well, hopefully this comes and it's really
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,easy. You just check in on progress, you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,tailor projects and code labs to their
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,needs, you start doing formal\Napprenticeships,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and you start doing assessment, and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,hopefully those assessments are positive.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Apprenticeships - that has to do a little
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bit with what I talked about. Just being
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,taken under someone's wing. The best way
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to learn is from imitating someone who's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really good at something. In fact they
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,find that that's true with athletes.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Athletes who are put under someone who's,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like, really good and much more
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,experienced at the sport will learn it at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a faster rate. So just put them around
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people who are good at this that they can
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,watch and imitate and follow. If you put
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,them with someone who has bad practices,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I've seen this happen, and it's a pet
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,peeve of mine - if you put them with
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,someone who's senior but who has really
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bad practices, and that junior person
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,picks up those bad practices, and you
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,punish that junior person for the bad
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,practices that they picked up from the
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,person that you paired them with, that
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is a really bad experience. So a lot of
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,times we let senior engineers get away
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,with behavior that we wouldn't let junior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers get away with. Be cognizant
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of that. So know what bad practices some
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of your engineers might be passing on to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,junior engineers, and don't punish them
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for it. Just explain to them why that's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,bad, or put them with someone who has a
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really good practice in that area.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Assessment is really important. People's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,trajectories are gonna be wildly\Ndifferent.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Some people are gonna do awesome and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're gonna shoot straight up, some
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people are gonna plateau, some people
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,are gonna be really up and down. So having
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a plan for assessment is important.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,As we've said before, technical ability
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is not the only category to assess.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's confidence, there's code quality,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,communication, judgment, and technical
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,knowledge. Judgment is one of the bigger
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ones. It's slightly more difficult to\Nassess,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but if you can hire people who have great
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,judgment, you can trust them to do things,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,even if they're really junior, that are
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going to be good. And the example of this
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is one of my friends at Hearsay Social,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the last company I was at, she worked in
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,support for a long time. And she taught
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,herself engineering on the side. So when
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she first started engineering, by every
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,definition she was very junior at
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineering. But she knew the product
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,inside and out. She knew the customers
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,inside and out, and she knew exactly what
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,needed to be built in any given situation.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In other words, she had excellent\Njudgment.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So I could give her tasks, tasks that, I
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,mean, they were pretty simple but she
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,might take a little bit longer on, but
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when she came back to me with the feature
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that she had built, I was like, yes, This
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,exactly solves the problem that we wanted
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to solve. This is awesome. You've saved us
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,all time. Conversely, engineers with bad
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,judgment will build terrible things very
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,quickly for your site, and then you're
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like, no no, please don't merge that, and
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you're like, taking code out. So judgment
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is something that's really really great if
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,you can find it in someone, and it's hard
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to assess, but I recommend that as
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something to look for in junior engineers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Alright. The main takeaways. Onboarding
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,aims to make new team members confident,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,productive, and independent. If you focus
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on these three things, and you really try
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to get people to that place, you're gonna
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have successful engineers most of the\Ntime.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It benefits everyone in the long run. The
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,individual gains skills, the company is
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more productive, the team is more\Nproductive,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and diversity is better at your company.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And finally anyone can be involved in
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,onboarding, so you don't have to be super
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,senior. Getting everyone involved will
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,spread out the load, it will make it
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,easier to onboard new engineers, and for
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,startups who don't have resources, it's
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,going to make it possible to hire junior
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,engineers. And since there's two ways to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,get great engineers at your company,
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,stealing them or making them, it's good to
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have channels for making engineers.
Dialogue: 0,9:59:59.99,9:59:59.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that's it!