My Remote Onboarding Experience At SquadStack
Onboarding that makes you feel at home.
If you’re reading this, you’ve probably heard of SquadStack (and hopefully wish to co-build awesome tech alongside us).
In case you haven’t, we’re a bunch of highly passionate, committed developers solving complex problems and learning new things every day.
We’re also growing like crazy, and looking for smart, like-minded engineers who can get shit done.
Let’s get to the point?
As we all know, first impressions are significant. Besides the application and interview process, the onboarding experience is one of those first impressions of an organisation that can have a lasting impact on you and your work there. In fact, it’s a powerful experience that can dictate the mindset a new employee would have for the first few months.
I’m Yasin, and I recently joined SquadStack as a Product Engineer — 2. This blog aims to paint a picture of what it’s like getting onboarded as a new member in the SquadStack Tech Team. To be honest, it’s nothing short of exhilarating! The most surprising part is that even though the entire process was remote, it didn’t feel that way at all.
Here are some things that stood out the most about my remote onboarding:
1. Pre-Onboarding Material
One week after I accepted the offer, I got paired with a buddy (more on this later), who provided me with reading material on how the organisation functions, the product and its use-cases, engineering principles that the team operates on, etc. This helped give me a realistic idea of what my day would look like when I finally joined.
2. Buddy Pairing
This was the most memorable part. Anyone joining the engineering team gets assigned a buddy who will be their “go-to” person for basically anything and everything. My buddy helped me quickly gain context of the organisation, the team, tools & what they’re used for, and communication/workflow procedures.
3. Product Onboarding Sessions
These were in-depth onboarding sessions that helped give me a thorough understanding of the product roadmap, use cases, user personas, competitors — basically everything product!
4. Introduction Meetings
To get to know my team members better, I had one-on-one introduction meetings with each of them. The importance of these sessions cannot be overemphasised. Especially in a remote work setting in which going up to people and making connections on your own is just not an option.
5. Engineering Wiki
A super comprehensive central database of all things engineering! From engineering operating principles and best practices to processes, infrastructure, tooling, and how-to guides, this has everything an engineer in the team would ever need to know. Truly mind-blowing documentation! Here’s a sneak peek:
Needless to say, this was one of the smoothest onboarding experiences I have ever had. And it indeed would not have been possible without the people-first culture that SquadStack has cultivated.
One of SquadStack’s guiding philosophies is to always put people above products and profits, and it shows. It’s the people here that make every day at work a treat.
Want to co-build with us? Check out engineering open positions here.
