Technical Onboarding, Training, and Mentoring

Kate Heddleston, @heddle317, Software Engineer, Runscope Nicole Zuckerman, Software Engineer, Eventbrite

What is Onboarding?

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❖Productive

❖ Independent

❖Confident

Productivity

Creating efficient employees.

Independence/Autonomy

“The greatest motivation and most personal satisfaction comes from those goals that we choose for ourselves.”

Confidence

Creating employees who believe that they are valuable.

Why do you care?

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❖ Individual ❖ Company ❖ Team ❖ Diversity

Individual

“The total cost of losing an employee can range from tens of thousands of dollars to

1.5-2X annual salary.”

❖Confidence

❖Happiness

❖Upward Trajectory

❖Mad skillz

Company

Productivity

Company

Productivity

Team

Productivity = (Σ of talent) * teamwork

Bonus! Diversity.

Who?

When?

Offer Acceptance

Reliable Independence

Start Date

How?

Maximize return:investment

Inefficient…

I’m going to be the best on boarding

mentor ever.

Instead…

Onboarding Plan

Onboarding Categories

❖ Technical Knowledge

❖ Company Knowledge and Process

❖ Personal Development

Phase 1

Ship stuff

Dev Environment

Shipping Code

Small!Changes

Journaling/note taking

3 things I learned this week

Social Event

Phase 2

Talk to your teammates

History of Company and Team Map

Shadowing and Code Labs

Phase 3

Decide who you want to be when you grow up.

1 on 1s

Goal Setting and Feedback

Presentations

Phase 4

Repeat

❖ Review concepts

❖ Check-in regularly

❖ Elective shadowing

❖ Co-piloting a larger project

Driver’s Ed

Beyond

Assessment

Apprenticeship

Assessment

Assessment Categories

❖ Confidence

❖ Code Quality

❖ Communication

❖ Judgement

❖ Technical Knowledge

Takeaways...

❖ Onboarding aims to make a new team member

confident, productive, independent.

❖ It benefits everyone in the long run: individual,

company, team, and diversity.

❖ Anyone can be involved in onboarding.

Thanks!

@heddle317

https://github.com/heddle317/onboarding

References

❖ http://www.forbes.com/sites/heidigranthalvorson/2011/09/15/how-to-give-employees-a-sense-of-autonomy-when-you-are-really-calling-the-shots/

❖ http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/beautiful-minds/201112/confidence-matters-just-much-ability

❖ https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130816200159-131079-employee-retention-now-a-big-issue-why-the-tide-has-turned

❖ Drive - The surprising truth about what motivates us. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc