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How to set junior employees up for success in remote

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Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#41

Post by jimbob45 »

ZetaZero wrote: post #8
geraldwhen wrote: post #5

Before remote, the office was already increasingly hostile. Open floor plans, some groups having shared seating, and offices for roughly no one. Now, it’s worse. Everything is “reservable equipment” of garbage monitors, windows keyboards, and 400 dpi mice. I suspect it’s harder for a junior to succeed anywhere today vs 2012. The office is not built to foster development or innovation. It’s an exec’s idea of what a so…

IMO, an expensive keyboard/mouse/monitor isn't necessary for a junior to succeed. Plenty of coders learned on much worse.

If it's really that much of a problem, most companies will let you bring your own. Everyone at my last place did that with no issue.

Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#42

Post by dj_mc_merlin »

ZetaZero wrote: post #8
geraldwhen wrote: post #5

Before remote, the office was already increasingly hostile. Open floor plans, some groups having shared seating, and offices for roughly no one. Now, it’s worse. Everything is “reservable equipment” of garbage monitors, windows keyboards, and 400 dpi mice. I suspect it’s harder for a junior to succeed anywhere today vs 2012. The office is not built to foster development or innovation. It’s an exec’s idea of what a so…

IMO, an expensive keyboard/mouse/monitor isn't necessary for a junior to succeed. Plenty of coders learned on much worse.

I actually find it hard to switch from my "bad" hardware, I'm so used to one single small screen and average keyboard that it's how I do all my coding, despite having enough money to buy an expensive set up. I find it distracts me from my actual job, which is thinking.

Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#43

Post by mathverse »

throwaway1092 wrote: post #10

Our company's new CTO held an all-hands meeting Friday where he stated something to the effect that he agreed with Elon (Musk) and that if it were up to him we'd all be huddled in the same office..."but times have changed". What I heard was "I really don't like that we can't keep an eye on you, but since the labor market is still so tight in tech, we have to deal with remote (for now)."

Labor market is tight and yet i am waiting weeks if not months for a result of my interview process. Companies just suck.

Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#44

Post by _dain_ »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #27
_dain_ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's penny wise, pound foolish thinking. A good keyboard and mouse and monitor for your developers (who directly earn you revenue) is not going to break the bank. But the lack of them will reduce productivity and morale, possibly even causing (on the margin) some talented people to leave. RSI and posture problems are no joke! In other industries you need immense capital investment in equipment for workers to be pro…

It's a raindrop in a hurricane though, the best keyboard, mouse, and monitor in the world aren't going to make someone productive in an unproductive environment.

Maybe not, but a bad set of tools can cause real problems. Strain injury, for one thing.

Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#45

Post by spideymans »

micromacrofoot wrote: post #27
_dain_ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's penny wise, pound foolish thinking. A good keyboard and mouse and monitor for your developers (who directly earn you revenue) is not going to break the bank. But the lack of them will reduce productivity and morale, possibly even causing (on the margin) some talented people to leave. RSI and posture problems are no joke! In other industries you need immense capital investment in equipment for workers to be pro…

It's a raindrop in a hurricane though, the best keyboard, mouse, and monitor in the world aren't going to make someone productive in an unproductive environment.

But they could make someone unproductive in an otherwise productive environment.

Engineers are expensive, and every minute they spend fighting with equipment rather than being productive is costly.

Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#46

Post by cmrdporcupine »

This is not a surprise to me. I think it also applies to some people who are senior and new on a project or team. Or people with a more synchronous working style. I think remote has been toxic to productivity in all sorts of companies and for all sorts of people. I think there's in general a "personality type" that does really well with remote in a certain kind of job and thrives with fairly asynchronous disconnected tasks, and on HN I think there's a bias towards seeing our whole industry that way.

But some of my best jobs were not like that. They were sitting down with people in very up close conversations and working out ambiguities and tasks. And mentoring juniors and working things through with them.

All that said, I won't be going back to in person. I'll be hunting for places that know how to make remote work, even though I don't prefer it. Because remote is still better than the 1.5 hours a day I was spending driving and the toll that was taking on my health and sanity. And most of the local employers are crappy.

So it's a real mix of stuff, we're in a transition period. It's going to take a few years for this stuff to shake out.

Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#47

Post by foobarian »

CodeSgt wrote: post #25

Question for anyone who's had to onboard/train Jr's in a 100% remote environment, what's worked for you? How do you maximize their chances of success? What are some common pain points? This has been an issue at my org and we're having a hard time improving it.

When I started, my direct manager took me on a walk. We visited about 20 different desks and had introductions and impromptu chats with various developers and product managers, putting the names to faces and expertises. Not all on the same team either, some were just people he knew well from various projects. This was a huge jumpstart for an introvert like me. In an online-only Slack environment there is the private team channel, and the big scary common channel where you are afraid to ask questions unless you tried to solve the problem by yourself first.

Maybe a better online solution would help, a-la some magical VR space that Meta comes up with.

Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#48

Post by lozenge »

ZetaZero wrote: post #8
geraldwhen wrote: post #5

Before remote, the office was already increasingly hostile. Open floor plans, some groups having shared seating, and offices for roughly no one. Now, it’s worse. Everything is “reservable equipment” of garbage monitors, windows keyboards, and 400 dpi mice. I suspect it’s harder for a junior to succeed anywhere today vs 2012. The office is not built to foster development or innovation. It’s an exec’s idea of what a so…

IMO, an expensive keyboard/mouse/monitor isn't necessary for a junior to succeed. Plenty of coders learned on much worse.

Feeling valued is necessary for a junior. They deserve the same three monitors everybody else gets.

Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#49

Post by simias »

slackfan wrote: post #7

For junior engineers it's really easy to fall into the trap of trying to solve everything themselves instead of asking for help when they are remote. I say this as somebody who has spent the last five years working remote team-based gigs.

Yeah that makes sense to me too, you also tend to be a lot more insecure and want to prove yourself when you're a junior, so you may be a lot more self-conscious asking for help thinking that it may be perceived as incompetence. I've definitely experienced that when I started working. Being remote probably means that it's even harder to push through this insecurity and it could also mean that others may not see that you're struggling and come help help you spontaneously.

That being said I think it can probably be improved while still remaining WFH, for instance by more actively chaperoning newbies.

Re: How to set junior employees up for success in remote

#50

Post by _dain_ »

throwaway0a5e wrote: post #35
_dain_ wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's penny wise, pound foolish thinking. A good keyboard and mouse and monitor for your developers (who directly earn you revenue) is not going to break the bank. But the lack of them will reduce productivity and morale, possibly even causing (on the margin) some talented people to leave. RSI and posture problems are no joke! In other industries you need immense capital investment in equipment for workers to be pro…

Your comment reminds me of all the people screeching about their good school district, as if it is somehow capable of covering for them if they choose to be a crap parent. In both cases the stuff people are fussing over is basically a rounding error compared to the big factors. Beyond some basic utility, e.g. being able to compile the code in under 5min, the hardware one uses is of negligible impact to their success.…

>A glitchy mouse won't make them or break them.

It can break my god damn wrist joints if I have to use it all day. Speaking from experience.

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