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Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?

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Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?

#61

Post by satvikpendem »

scarface_74 wrote: post #10

Context: 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…

The what not to do section is basically Chesterton's Fence [0], if anyone was curious.

> There exists in such a case a certain institution or law; let us say, for the sake of simplicity, a fence or gate erected across a road. The more modern type of reformer goes gaily up to it and says, “I don’t see the use of this; let us clear it away.” To which the more intelligent type of reformer will do well to answer: “If you don’t see the use of it, I certainly won’t let you clear it away. Go away and think. Then, when you can come back and tell me that you do see the use of it, I may allow you to destroy it.”

[0] https://fs.blog/chestertons-fence/

Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?

#62

Post by satvikpendem »

scarface_74 wrote: post #31
SoftTalker wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Exactly this. I keep my personal life and work completely separate. My wife and I travel a lot and we have done the digital nomad thing for a year. I go out of my way not to talk about that at work because I don’t want people to say I’m “being distracted” or when I actually do have something like doctors appointments for them to think that I’m goofing off during work hours. I worked from 15 cities the year before las…

Indeed. I've heard people getting laid off, for other similar personal reasons, first over others because "well, A has kids and B doesn't, B can doesn't have to support anyone so we'll let B go first." One should not give an employer any more reasons than necessary to lay one off over others.

Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?

#63

Post by satvikpendem »

deanmoriarty wrote: post #59

It is surprising that this still happens, but I’ve had senior engineers (L6-L7 from FAANG) join my teams (multiple examples, different companies) and in the first couple days make extremely superficial but strong arguments on how the architecture of a system should be completely revisited, and how libraries that have been in production for years should just be rewritten from scratch asap. In virtually all cases the s…

I mentioned this in another comment but this is basically the parable of Chesterton's Fence.

Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?

#64

Post by ge96 »

wojciii wrote: post #56
ge96 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Sounds like an environment where you should not ask for permission and just implement whatever you need to be efficient. Ask for forgiveness instead. I would implement the bare minimum of what I need (probably unit tests, integration tests, branching, some kind of DevOps, wiki, auto-generated testspec/test report).

It's interesting my manager is also a developer (we work on the same project). Possible I'm one of his first underlings. But yeah we get heated when we talk it sucks. I don't know what is considered done. Tasks usually have a defined goal. I sound dumb asking so I guess I'll just do. I'm not a newbie I'm more mid but not senior. I have the years but self esteem wise I don't consider myself a senior, still doubts. I will see how it goes, I really need to stay here a while and get out of debt.

Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?

#65

Post by sam_lowry_ »

throwpoaster wrote: post #8

Run the code base through Gource. It will give you a visual on the history of the project and where all the time is being spent. This video is cool to show management. Make sure you understand the business problem. Document your pain points for the next person. Document, don’t just learn, and share it with your team.

Hah, good old Gource! I once organized a project completion event with cocktails, Gource projected on the wall and Monolake CERN playing in the background.

Re: Ask HN: How to approach first days on a new job as a senior engineer?

#69

Post by eamag »

scarface_74 wrote: post #10

Context: 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…

How to do 3. Get to know the pecking order?
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