The Junior Jump-Eurucamp 2015

The 3 P's of Onboarding--Planning, Projects and Pairing

Transcript

1. The Junior Jump @RebeccaPoulson Making the transition from student to team member Eurucamp 2015
2. This is something our community is good at. That’s a lot of responsibility Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
3. The Junior Jump Why junior developers are a great investment for your team. @RebeccaPoulson You might consider investing in junior engineers because... • They get excited about the 20% of the work that the rest of your team thinks is really really boring. • They’re easier to find. • Teaching grows both teachers and learners. The best juniors ask smart questions that encourage the rest of your team to articulate implementation strategy, reconsider old opinions and try new things.
4. A Junior Dev is not a Chia Pet You have to help them grow Preparing to bring a junior dev onto your team. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
5. What kind of resources do you need to succeed here? Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
6. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
7. That is a scary question. Do not ask it. Instead, try, “how do you learn best?” Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
8. The Junior Jump Resources your team can offer a junior developer. @RebeccaPoulson Potential Resources: • Books • Conferences • Face time • Explicit time to learn. • Transcripts
9. Get your documentation game on point. “Ask the guy who wrote it,” is not on point. You should to tell your junior engineer to “look in the docs” a lot. Eventually, you should be able to tell her to write the docs. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
10. ToDo Planning an appropriate first project Perhaps the most technically difficult part of preparing for a junior engineer Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
11. @RebeccaPoulson Think of your junior engineer and her mentor as your team’s Round Tuit The Junior Jump Assigning meaningful work to your junior engineer
12. Balance exciting work that has to be done with supervision With boring stuff that fosters independence You don’t have to feel bad about assigning your junior repetitive work, as long as that’s not the only thing that she’s doing. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
13. @RebeccaPoulson Admin tools are a great opportunity for leveling up junior engineers. The Junior Jump Assigning meaningful work to your junior engineer
14. “I Built That” is easier to explain to your grandfather than string extraction Assign your juniors visible work. Having concrete accomplishments to point to is critical to developer happiness. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
15. Lower the cost of asking questions (yes, you need a formal mentorship program) Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
16. The Junior Jump Mentorship is a team sport. @RebeccaPoulson Three Questions: • We like this person. Do we have the bandwidth and resources to support her? • What kind of training can we offer our more experienced devs, so that they might become better mentors? • How can we prepare our new hire to be a better mentee?
17. If you can’t invest mentorship, you have to invest time A lot of it Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
18. It goes both ways Don’t discount the value of peer and early-stage mentorship. Supplying your junior devs with peers can be just as meaningful as giving them role models. One of the most significant ways you can help your begin to take on more leadership is to give her an intern to mentor. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
19. Ideally... You want a mentorship team that’s structured like U2. We can debate the musical merit of U2 all we want, but the structure of their public persona is a pretty great metaphor for a mentorship Dream Team. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
20. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
21. The Junior Jump Mentorship is a team sport. @RebeccaPoulson Your mentorship Supergroup: • A Bono-this is the person explicitly assigned to answer the question “How do I Internet?”
22. @RebeccaPoulson Much like Bono is U2’s explicit interface with the general public, this mentor is your new engineer’s interface with all of the knowledge you need them to acquire. The Junior Jump Mentorship is a team sport
23. The Junior Jump Mentorship is a team sport. @RebeccaPoulson Your mentorship Supergroup: • A Bono-this is the person explicitly assigned to answer the question “How do I Internet?” • An Edge-because even mentors need strong support
24. @RebeccaPoulson This person is available for your junior developer to turn to after her questions have driven her primary mentor a little bit insane. The Junior Jump Mentorship is a team sport
25. The Junior Jump Mentorship is a team sport. @RebeccaPoulson Your mentorship Supergroup: • A Bono-this is the person explicitly assigned to answer the question “How do I Internet?” • An Edge-because even mentors need strong support • A Larry Mullen
26. @RebeccaPoulson One of these guys is Larry Mullen The Junior Jump Mentorship is a team sport
27. The Junior Jump Mentorship is a team sport. @RebeccaPoulson Your mentorship Supergroup: • A Bono-this is the person explicitly assigned to answer the question “How do I Internet?” • An Edge-because even mentors need strong support • A team of engineers that understands that developing talent is just as important to the future of their product as writing clean code.
28. To Recap... Planning, Projects & Pairing The three P’s of onboarding junior engineers Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
29. Planning Work with your junior engineer to develop an onboarding plan Take a close look at how your existing team is working together. If the way you handle documentation and code review isn’t working for your experienced engineers, it probably won’t work for someone just starting out. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
30. Projects Cultivating independence while adding value Look at assigning work to your new engineers as an opportunity. They are a Round Tuit. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
31. Pairing... Empower yourself to be everybody’s Larry Mullen Because growing engineers is just as important as writing exemplary code Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson
32. Thank You! You’ve been great! The theme for this deck was designed by Nicole Yeo. We work at where we get to build tools that help people bring their creative projects to life. Eurucamp 2015 @RebeccaPoulson