Integrating new employees in development teams
NPM install newbie
Finding your first job in the field of software development is a very unique experience, and for most of us it can be a scary one. Regardless of whether you get hired as a student or graduate, the sheer amount of information is incredibly overwhelming. Unlike when learning in class, information has to be absorbed in bigger quantities and at a faster rate. This makes it essential to assimilate quickly.
So if you want to keep this job, you need to work hard and give it your all. Asking questions as much as possible can be a good idea, but by doing so you might disturb too many people. The overall productivity of the team could be affected negatively. That being said, It’s easy to see why some people can get really discouraged at the beginning of their new career in development.
This, however, is where we can differentiate a good organization from an amazing one.
Newbies require more attention in their first few months on the job, so finding a solid system of integration, both professionally and socially is very important. Flipsnack, the SaaS I work for, can be a true model of what it means to integrate new people into the team. The onboarding process for me was as smooth as possible. As a result, I’ve felt welcomed as an important part of the team ever since.
In this article, I’m going to present the best way (so far) to NPM install newbie, from my experience. I will break this down in the most practical way in order to easily integrate someone into a software development company.
1. Introduction to the team
As mentioned before, the first thing, and probably the most important, too, is to make the new person feel welcome. It may be a bit overwhelming, but make sure he is introduced to everyone in the team. Personally and on all group chats, of course. Make sure everyone is open and greets the new person with a smile. And maybe an invitation to grab a coffee or sit together at lunch. This will surely make him feel part of the team and boost their confidence.
With that said, social life is very important at work. Coffee and lunch breaks are better once you make a few work friends.
2. Mentoring
When just starting out in this career, having a person to rely on is a must. In this case, a mid to senior level developer would be just perfect.
Depending on the flux of juniors joining the team, and the willingness to lower the efficiency for a limited period of time, you can have one or more mentors for several people at once. I specifically said that efficiency for that person would go down for a limited period of time because the main purpose of the mentor is to make sure that every junior and new employee understands everything they go through when learning and growing. In the long run, the strength and efficiency of the whole team will see improvements.
The mentor should, of course finish his tasks, but his guidance to those in need takes priority, and they must not be scolded if they don’t get all their work done. Remember, the long term results outweigh the short term downsides.
3. Study plan
Depending on technologies used in your projects and the level of the newbie, you need to lay out a good step by step plan which will be the guide of how your employees learn and grow.
To do this, start with a brainstorming meeting where your best developers can talk about what should be included in the plan. Always take into consideration that you might have a person in their first year of college with no other development background. You might also end up with someone who has a little knowledge of a different programming language.
Take every situation into consideration and make sure you are willing to adapt this study plan on the go. Note that this will be a trial and error process that will only get better in time if taken seriously.
I remember being very eager to work on something when I finished my tutorials. I felt like I needed something to push me further into my new and exciting career. That’s when the management of Flipsnack decided to give me and a fellow newbie a task to start a new, exciting project.
Our task was to create an app where people could request days off. It’s one of the best in-house HR solutions that I would recommend for every organization. Especially a software development one.
Working on that app was the perfect exercise that helped me put into practice what I had just learned. It was a task that helped me review my strengths and weaknesses.
Something else that should be taken into consideration is the coding style. If the organization or project you work for has a well established way of coding, that style should be introduced and enforced from the very beginning. This is very important because it will develop the skill to understand code written by other colleagues. The best part about this is that the mentor can get help from his other colleagues if there is a code review system implemented (if your organization does not use such a system, I strongly recommend you to implement one).
Another thing to take into consideration is how to handle all the questions. No matter if you are the mentor or not, the most important thing to remember is that there are no stupid questions. Each and every one of us was at least once at the beginning of a new career, with a lot of questions and unknown technical details. Every question, even if it makes no sense, is a step towards growth.
4. Meetings
Every software company has a few meetings where they discuss technical difficulties or planning for follow-up features. At the beginning, these can be very confusing for the new people, but trust me when I say this: they should attend them.
Flipsnack has a very strong stance in this matter. When I first joined the team, there was a planning meeting on my first day, starting at 10 am. The first few minutes I was told about the purpose of the meeting and how the team would discuss the tasks they would focus on the following days. It was important for me to understand the flow of the discussions and the SCRUM system. Even though I could not contribute to much of anything for the first few meetings, it was a good reason for me to try to understand parts of the project.
This will help in the long run, because by the time the newbies gain a bit more experience, they will know what to expect in these meetings.
5. Working the real deal
Before you too far into the integration, remember it’s important to always start slow. To really get things started off on the right foot, the newbie should be introduced to the organization’s website(s) and app(s). This will give them a little breathing room on the first day, and allow them to familiarize themselves with the brand.
Going the extra mile to plan additional easy tasks is a must. Even if your new colleague seems to know their stuff, it’s good for them to tackle smaller tasks first. This will give them the necessary time to get accustomed to the architecture of the project from a technical point of view.
There will be mistakes, especially if it’s a big app/website, so it’s important to have patience and give them as much time as they need to at least get the idea of the structure of the code. Depending on each individual’s level of knowledge, you will know how to plan future tasks, up to the point that your newbie will no longer need easier tasks then the rest of the team.
6. The importance of feedback
I can not stress out how important feedback is. Your newbie will not know if they’re doing well if you don’t offer him the necessary feedback.
In Flipsnack, every new employee has 3 monthly feedback sessions with their respective mentor in the first three months, regardless of if they’re a junior, mid, or even senior. After that, the feedback meetings are less frequent.
These feedback sessions go both ways, meaning both the mentor and the new employee will give feedback on the integration period. The newbie will receive feedback on their progress, and will know what to focus on to keep evolving. The company might receive good ideas on how to better the integration system for future employees.
As mentioned earlier, always be flexible. Some mentoring methods work better than others depending on the individual, and these feedback moments are where they can be expressed.
Conclusion
This system is constantly adapting as each new person joins the team, and it will only get better from here. Giving the necessary attention to the beginners will only guarantee their success in their career, and will give you the team player that your company needs.
When I joined Flipsnack, I went through all the required steps in my first few months of the job, and it was an amazing experience. Thanks to this system, my growth has been steady. My respect for my colleagues has been earned and was naturally given in return.
A solid team is the best thing for any company. That being said, they should make sure that every time a newbie joins the team, that person becomes a solid pillar of trust in the structure of the company.
