Looking for answers from the more experienced people here who have changed jobs multiple times in their career and were able to start making impact quickly in a new team, specially SWEs.
Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
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Re: Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
#2My $0.01: don't tell anyone if you find a way to automate something (if it's not in your job description). If you do automate something away (of your job), don't tell anyone you don't trust very much.
Re: Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
#3Listen. A lot. Even if you think something they're doing is stupid, keep listening. Don't rush to judgment.
Re: Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
#4Listen. A lot. Even if you think something they're doing is stupid, keep listening. Don't rush to judgment.
I agree, but also don't be afraid to voice new ideas.
Re: Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
#5Listen. A lot. Even if you think something they're doing is stupid, keep listening. Don't rush to judgment.
I agree, but also don't be afraid to voice new ideas.
Sure. But in the first six months or so, be more humble in how you voice them. Not "We should do this!" Instead, "Maybe we could look at doing it this way..."
Re: Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree, but also don't be afraid to voice new ideas.
Sure. But in the first six months or so, be more humble in how you voice them. Not "We should do this!" Instead, "Maybe we could look at doing it this way..."
I think it's always good to voice then humbly. Just because some has been on a project for years and is an expert doesn't mean they know everything and should be an ass about their delivery.
Re: Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
#7Ask questions.
write everything down.
try to figure out the codebase, find the docs and the person who maintains them.
try to figure out who wrote/maintains what part so you know who to ask for help.
Figure out if you should try to get into the middle/meat of the codebase or if you should start working on the edges. (Architecture/culture dependent).
Schedule 20-30min intro/coffee call with anyone who will accept.
Re: Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
#8Don’t come in with too many ideas and no context on the org.
Don’t try to do too much, you’re new, onboarding takes time.
Don't pass judgment on the team, it’s practices, it’s work, etc until you can establish some empathy and context for why/how things got there.
Do listen a lot. But really do this always anyway as your default mode of communicating.
Do make small improvements to the onboarding process. It’s an easy way to ship in your first week
Do find ways to make small, but meaningful improvements.
Do have a “beginners mindset”[1] regardless of what you’ve accomplished in the past.
Do appreciate what is different about this place, it’s culture, working norms, values, etc - esp the unspoken ones that might be taken for granted. Write those down for future new people.
Do schedule 1-1s with your lead and teammates. Maybe your skiplevel. Connect with them as people.
Do be open and growth oriented. Expect to not like something at first, but give it time to let it grow on you and gain context before passing judgment.
Do collaborate a lot. Pairing is caring when you’re new. Esp when remote, building together can help grow your relationship with teammates. (They should want to collaborate to help onboard you)
Do demo a lot, but make it about what the team did together in your collaboration, not about you.
Do couch your observations and ideas as questions, not strong assertions or pronouncements. It lets you probe the issue. Instead of “WE SHOULD TEST WITH PYTEST!!!” Maybe try “I notice we used pythons built in unit testing, just curious if there’s history there on how that came to be?”
Do understand how your team is measured and incentivized.
Re: Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
#9Don’t come in with too many ideas and no context on the org. Don’t try to do too much, you’re new, onboarding takes time. Don't pass judgment on the team, it’s practices, it’s work, etc until you can establish some empathy and context for why/how things got there. Do listen a lot. But really do this always anyway as your default mode of communicating. Do make small improvements to the onboarding process. It’s an easy…
Great points. I would say some of the most annoying new members are the ones that go around saying "you should have used [insert whatever hot tool] instead" after spending an hour learning about a project just because they read it somewhere. It can take months before you understand the decisions and context behind a software project that has been maintained for a while.
Re: Ask HN: Things to do/don't in the first week and the first month in a new job?
#10My $0.01: don't tell anyone if you find a way to automate something (if it's not in your job description). If you do automate something away (of your job), don't tell anyone you don't trust very much.
>My $0.01: don't tell anyone if you find a way to automate something (if it's not in your job description).
Isn't this absurd. If you found a way to automate things, shouldn't you just take CTO on call and tell him that you have found a way to improve team's productivity. I think in this way you would be adding value to the team/company, which would eventually be favorable for you during your appraisal.