The Practical Guide to Building an Apprenticeship - RailsConf

Currently, our industry has a surplus of bright junior developers, but a lack of open junior positions. Building a developer apprenticeship in your organization is a great way to provide a haven for these talented devs, while simultaneously making your team more productive and easing the pain of hiring.

In this talk, you'll learn from the mistakes I've made and wins I've had in creating an apprenticeship. From pitching the idea to growing your apprentices, you'll gain a step-by-step guide to successfully building your own apprenticeship program.

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Presented at RailsConf 2018 on April 17th, 2018

Transcript

1. The Practical Guide to
   Building an Apprenticeship
   Megan Tiu
   RailsConf
   April 17, 2018
   

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2. Hello there
   I am:
   Senior Software
   Engineer at CallRail
   @megantiu on Twitter
   megantiu on GitHub
   

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5. apprenticeship
   

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6. fulfill a real need
   

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7. "there’s a widening gap
   between educational
   institutions and the
   companies hiring"
   Lia James
   @Lia_James
   http://blog.humanpredictions.io/apprenticeships-the-building-blocks/
   

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8. unify and engage
   your team
   

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9. create more
   diverse & inclusive
   organizations
   

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10. what’s an
    apprenticeship?
    

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11. what’s an
    apprenticeship?
    

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12. how’s it different
    from an internship?
    

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13. Internship
    Focus on one specific
    project
    Implies they’ll do the
    dirty work
    Short-term
    

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14. Internship
    Focus on one specific
    project
    Implies they’ll do the
    dirty work
    Short-term
    Apprenticeship
    Focus on sustainable
    growth
    Implies they’ll be honing
    their craft
    Long-term
    

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15. laying the ground
    work
    

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16. pitching
    planning
    preparation
    

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17. what do you need
    to get it going?
    

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18. what do you need to get it
    going?
    a plan
    cash
    buy-in
    

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19. convince your
    boss
    

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20. Material
    Eliminate onboarding
    costs
    Eliminate recruiting
    costs
    Easier hiring of seniors
    

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21. Material
    Eliminate onboarding
    costs
    Eliminate recruiting
    costs
    Easier hiring of seniors
    Immaterial
    Increase diversity of
    background and skill
    Improve team
    connectivity
    Increase developer
    productivity
    

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22. key factors to decide
    program length
    number of apprentices
    who’s going to do what
    

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23. key factors to decide
    what should they know?
    what should they learn?
    how will they learn it?
    

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24. you need a game
    plan
    

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25. i. goals
    ii. who to target
    i. potential places to advertise
    iii.timeline
    i. month 1
    ii. month 2
    iii.months 3 and 4
    iv. projects
    i. specific possible projects
    ii. general qualities
    iii.examples
    v. process
    i. division of work
    ii. moving between teams
    iii.supplemental reading
    iv. mentorship
    vi.logistics
    i. interview process
    ii. involving the team
    iii.post-apprenticeship hiring
    iv. work setup
    vii.items to consider
    

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26. implementation
    

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27. hiring
    onboarding
    growing
    

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28. hiring
    

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29. goal
    establish an unbiased, even
    playing field for candidates
    

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30. how we did it
    application
    code challenge
    final interview
    

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31. how we did it
    end-to-end anonymization
    throughout the entire process
    

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32. application
    

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37. what are you
    looking to get out
    of this program?
    

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38. what does your
    background bring
    to the table?
    

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39. candidates consistently try to
    "make up" for the fact that
    they don’t have previous
    technical experience
    

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40. what parts of
    programming excite
    you the most?
    

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41. what parts of
    programming excite
    you the most?
    
    

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42. what makes you
    unique?
    

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43. what makes you
    unique?
    
    

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44. tell us about a problem
    that challenged you
    while learning, but you
    ultimately conquered.
    

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45. tell us about a problem
    that challenged you
    while learning, but you
    ultimately conquered.
    ✨
    

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46. application review
    

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48. reviewers rated each application on:
    eagerness/excitement
    curiosity
    drive
    

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49. how we did it: hiring
    make data-driven conclusions
    (including early cuts and
    acceptances)
    

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50. code challenge
    

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51. how we did it: code challenge
    decide what we want to know
    figure out what format we want
    write the code challenge
    

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52. how we did it: code challenge
    each candidate had their own
    GitHub repo
    

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55. class Grader
    end
    

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56. describe '#score' do
    # the student forgot to answer a question
    context 'when passed nil for an answer' do
    let(:answers) { ['A', 'B', nil, 'D'] }
    it 'counts the nil as incorrect' do
    expect(grader.score(answers)).to eq(75.0)
    end
    end
    end
    

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57. how we did it: code challenge
    code comments are the only
    context your candidates have
    

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58. how we did it: code challenge
    a script scrubbed commits’ author
    info, then submitted a PR to a
    separate submissions-only repo
    

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59. how we did it: code challenge
    preserved commit history without
    risk of identifying candidates
    

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60. how we did it: code challenge
    the pull request format allowed
    reviewers to assess submissions
    in a familiar environment
    

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61. code challenge
    review
    

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63. if you could provide
    feedback to the candidate
    on their submission, what
    would you say?
    

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64. final interview
    

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65. how we did it: final interview
    product/company intro
    technical conversation
    behavioral conversation
    

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66. how we did it: technical chat
    what challenged you while
    completing the code challenge?
    

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67. how we did it: technical chat
    see how they react to feedback
    using the suggestions from the
    code challenge review
    

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68. how we did it: behavioral chat
    what would you change about
    the school you attended?
    

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69. ways to improve
    use an HR platform
    

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70. ways to improve
    don’t limit the code challenge to
    one language
    

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71. ways to improve
    be more direct with application
    questions
    ask what you want to know
    

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72. onboarding
    

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73. goals
    set the apprentices up for
    success
    teach them essential concepts
    

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74. how we did it
    give them the same onboarding
    experience as the rest of our
    developers
    

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75. how we did it
    scavenger hunt!
    

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76. how we did it
    lessons on foundational concepts
    like OOP, debugging
    

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77. ways to improve
    give them earlier exposure to
    practices like sprint planning,
    point estimation
    

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78. growing
    

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79. goals
    anticipate needs
    provide an inclusive, friendly environment to
    grow and learn
    increase apprentice independence
    

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80. how we did it
    an initial ramping-up period
    small changes, bug fixes,
    internal-facing work
    

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81. how we did it
    team rotations doing customer-
    facing work
    exposure to all stack levels
    

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82. how we did it
    set early expectations
    

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85. how we did it
    establish regular communication
    through 1:1s and more
    

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86. how we did it
    include them in their team
    rotation decisions
    

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87. how we did it
    give them unstructured time to
    learn freely
    

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88. how we did it
    don’t be afraid to let them fail
    

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89. ways to improve
    look for early warning signs and
    be proactive about intervening
    

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90. ways to improve
    ensure everyone involved is on
    the same page regarding
    expectations
    

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91. wrapping up
    

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92. planning
    hiring
    onboarding
    growing
    

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93. our results
    

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94. we hired both of
    our apprentices!
    

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95. they’re both
    productive
    members of teams
    

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96. lessons learned
    

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97. listen to early
    hunches about
    candidates
    

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98. give yourself lots of
    time for this
    process
    

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99. always work with
    your goals in mind
    

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100. make a real impact
     

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101. we provided W2 jobs
     that pay a living wage
     and include full
     benefits!!
     

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102. Big movements
     are comprised
     of small shifts.
     

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103. This is a
     chance to take
     action.
     

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104. Go start an
     apprenticeship.
     

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105. Thank you!
     I am:
     Senior Software
     Engineer at CallRail
     @megantiu on Twitter
     megantiu on GitHub
     

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106. thank you!
     Loren Crawford
     @LCrawfish
     Pamela Vickers
     @pwnela
     Kylie Stradley
     @kyfast
     Robby Ranshous
     @rranshous
     Steve Jackson
     @stevejxsn
     Elliott Wood
     @ewoodh20
     Rachael Wright
     @chaelcodes
     Pete Holiday
     @toomuchpete
     

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107. Thank you!
     I am:
     Senior Software
     Engineer at CallRail
     @megantiu on Twitter
     megantiu on GitHub
     

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