Getting Good: Integrating Novice Developers

Good developer talent is extremely hard to find. If you need to scale your team, what options do you have? LivingSocial took an unconventional route and brought on 24 ruby novices for an intensive 5-month developer training program. The litmus test of the program comes now that their development careers have started. How will these beginners deliver value? What lessons can be learned about integrating junior developers into existing teams with large amounts of legacy code?

Transcript

1. GETTING GOOD integrating novice developers Elise Worthy @eliseworthy
2. NOVICE
3. NOVICE BIASED
4. GOAL #1 Convince you that you *need* junior developers
5. GOAL #2 Get you fired up about getting your team novice-ready
6. HUNGRY ACADEMY WHY BEGINNERS? IN PRACTICE
9. 24 STUDENTS Paid to live in DC 5 months long 16-hour days
11. 24 HIRED
12. 20 RETAINED
13. 83%
14. NOVICE BIASED FLUNKED
16. HUNGRY ACADEMY WHY BEGINNERS? IN PRACTICE
19. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mr_matt/3662061490/ functional diversity
20. WHEN WE ARE DIFFERENT, we think differently
21. THAT’S A REALLY, REALLY GOOD THING
22. A random group of intelligent problem solvers will outperform a group of the best problem solvers. http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.full Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America: http://www.pnas.org/content/101/46/16385.full
24. Building an application is way more than writing code
25. Understanding of the problem Means of reaching a solution Perspective Heuristic Possible Solution
26. AN EXPERT Possible Solution
27. EXPERT TEAM Possible Solution Possible Solution Possible Solution Possible Solution Possible Solution Possible Solution
28. DIVERSE TEAM Possible Solution Possible Solution Possible Solution Possible Solution Possible Solution Possible Solution
29. THE LANGUAGE CAN BE TAUGHT
30. THE LANGUAGE CAN BE TAUGHT ...varying perspectives and heuristics cannot.
31. JAN
32. MARY
33. “good” developers “bad” developers
35. HUNGRY ACADEMY WHY BEGINNERS? IN PRACTICE
38. autonomy let individuals control their own destiny. http://www.flickr.com/photos/difei/6194122010/
39. incentivize by challenge. mastery
40. make it meaningful. purpose http://www.flickr.com/photos/romancing_the_road/6156994580/
42. Robert Cialdini, http://www.influenceatwork.com/
43. LIKING You’ll work better together if you like each other.
44. LIKING http://www.flickr.com/photos/genvessel/431101714
45. SOCIAL PROOF Lead by example.
47. AUTHORITY The leaders of your organization should vocally back the idea.
49. Banish skepticism.
50. http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrix_feet/5018041830/
51. 5 nerds
52. HABIT 0 Each novice will visit a (technical) mentor regularly.
53. HABIT 1 When starting anything new, nothing will be taken for granted. Questions will always be encouraged.
54. HABIT 2 There will be a regular pairing schedule, preferably including more than one other person.
55. HABIT 3 Code will always be systematically reviewed via pull request.
56. HABIT 4 Jr. developers will create individual learning goals with self-chosen objectives. They will be assessed regularly.
58. I *need* junior developers!
59. I’m fired up about getting my team on board!
60. HAVE FUN! Enjoy the novel perspective of new developers while teaching them convention and best practices!
61. THANKS! Elise Worthy @eliseworthy Come hang out at office hours! 1:45pm in the East Lounge.