To add to what others have said, I would ask every person in my team what's the most important think I need to know.
Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
21–30 of 69 posts
Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
#22Assuming not management track: - Make a token commit day 1 or 2 to show you can and will deliver, even if just docs. Ensure you can go end-to-end on a real code PR week 1, even if a trivial one. Identify which area of code is most important for you to learn, vs not learn, and focus there. - Get agreement on week 1 / month 1 / q1 goal for you+team+co with your direct peers, manager, skip level. Assuming a startup, als…
Man I just joined a new company, super disorganized like no ticketing, don't know what I'm supposed to do/when. I think my manager is new. Oh well I'm grateful for the job. I at least have self-awareness (like someone else mentioned below) about not sh*tting on everything existing. No PRs, No tests, Code barely works from master, no docs how to get started, that's the kind of environment I'm in so it's not like it's not warranted but yeah. There's freedom in it too that's nice but I'm not used to it (defined tasks).
Edit: side note, other thing I don't like about this place, everybody's so separated, there are community events like happy hour (beer on tap) but in general everybody's in their cubicle/area and only talk to their small team. Idk why I care but yeah. In the past I'd have buddies to chat with in slack/teams but right now it's just me and my manager/co-developer. That's a weird dynamic too when you aren't sure how friendly/buddy buddy you can be with your manager/co-dev.
Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
#23Context: I was an early strategic technical hire by a director/manager/CTO 3 times to help execute process changes and lead new initiatives healthcare SaaS companies between 2014-2020 and then started working in strategic cloud consulting since then where I am brought in to get developer, operations and the “business” to be better aligned and/or to lead new initiatives. I’m currently a “staff software architect” at a…
On point 4: keep these work-focused. Don't ask about families, hobbies, "what are you passionate about," what sports they follow, etc. Fine to discuss that if it they volunteer it, but as an developer I always felt put on the spot by those sorts of questions, even if they were meant with friendly intent.
Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
#24Like any new job in which you are unaware of the context or politics; with your mouth shut.
Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
#25Assuming not management track: - Make a token commit day 1 or 2 to show you can and will deliver, even if just docs. Ensure you can go end-to-end on a real code PR week 1, even if a trivial one. Identify which area of code is most important for you to learn, vs not learn, and focus there. - Get agreement on week 1 / month 1 / q1 goal for you+team+co with your direct peers, manager, skip level. Assuming a startup, als…
"earned & lived experienced" - what is an earned experience? How does that differ from a lived experience?
Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
#26To add to what others have said, I would ask every person in my team what's the most important think I need to know.
Also ask the name of someone I need to meet. This helps find the load-bearing people who are sometimes invisible on the org chart.
Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
#27Figure out the core technologies they use and become an expert at them. Read the documentation of those technologies like a book. Is kafka at the heart of the stack? Learn everything related to kafka and setup a small dummy instance to play around with. This can take some time but after a couple of months you'll be more knowledgeable about the technology than many people on the team who have been there longer.
Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
#28Assuming not management track: - Make a token commit day 1 or 2 to show you can and will deliver, even if just docs. Ensure you can go end-to-end on a real code PR week 1, even if a trivial one. Identify which area of code is most important for you to learn, vs not learn, and focus there. - Get agreement on week 1 / month 1 / q1 goal for you+team+co with your direct peers, manager, skip level. Assuming a startup, als…
Man I just joined a new company, super disorganized like no ticketing, don't know what I'm supposed to do/when. I think my manager is new. Oh well I'm grateful for the job. I at least have self-awareness (like someone else mentioned below) about not sh*tting on everything existing. No PRs, No tests, Code barely works from master, no docs how to get started, that's the kind of environment I'm in so it's not like it's…
Do your best I'd say. Don't pitch anything half-baked but your environment is ripe for earning understanding. Recalibrate often.
Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
#29I'd say pay very close attention to who does what, literally write it down, what people say they do, what you observe them doing. Try to make no impact, as close to zero as possible. Two weeks later try again to assess who does what. Does it agree. Who changed? Why do you think something is different, why did some things stay the same? Repeat. You will naturally come into contact with most important people trying to…
> My point is that I rarely don't regret (for my careers sake) jumping in and delivering (obvious to me heh heh) value right away because I see the code I see where it ought to be and the new boss is really eager to see somethin, but I'm steamrolling toes and throwing elbows in eyes that I was entirely unaware of. I guarantee the people you will work with do not see you as a senior for some time, any misstep is a cas…
Well a lot of this depends on context. I've worked at a place where (for reasons beyond my knowledge), there was a pre-existing false conception of my experience and level. In that situation, it was important to disprove that false perception early. Especially in a competitive environment, establishing your cred is important.
In a more functional and team oriented environment, your advice is absolutely critical.
Regardless, it's the personal relationships that are primary here. And there can be some nuance in how to handle those. Jumping in and alienating people would not be a wise choice :)
Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?
#30Just joined a new team as a senior dev last fall and went through this. I simply worked my ass off the first couple of months and asked a lot of questions and banged out some very high quality initial commits to make a strong first impression. Have a zen mind/open mind, things will be different and you may not care for some of the approaches taken. Play the long game and gradually make suggestions and changes as you get to know the landscape. My initial feedback from management was very positive, so this approach worked for me.