How to spend your first 90 days at a new job
You’re new, a little nervous, and want to hit the ground running. What’s the best way to spend your first 30, 60, 90 days at a new job?
I made this detailed checklist last year which strangely found some traction on HackerNews, so I figured a fresh update would be useful.
Getting onboarding right is like the Goldilocks story: do too little and you disappoint; do too much and you upset. What is just right? How do you go from unknown outsider to trusted insider?
Day 0–30: breadth over depth
Tip #1: avoid tunnel vision. When you’re new, it’s tempting to fall down a rabbithole and make it your sole focus. It feels productive and reassuring. But you can’t develop good judgment without broader context.
The first 30 days is a rare opportunity to gain that context. It’s about meeting people, mapping the business equation, and playing with the product while you have fresh eyes.
“Create leverage”
If you’re a doer at heart like me, it feels weird to not produce anything. So here’s an underrated outlet: document what you learn as you learn them.
The first audience is yourself — writing clarifies your thinking. A second audience could be your manager. Signaling your…
