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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

#61

Post by mcv »

kevinmchugh wrote: post #16
mcv wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That trap also exists in the office, though. Even in the office, you need to give juniors active guidance. It's just that the way you give that guidance is different online and in the office.

It's a lot easier for me to observe a junior struggling, spinning their wheels, and give corrective feedback in the office. I don't know the remote equivalent of glancing at their screen and body language while I get up for a bathroom break.

Listen to what they say during the daily team meeting, and occasionally ask by chat how they're doing. It's true that it has to be a bit more explicit, and it may be a bit slower, but it's far from impossible.

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

#62

Post by seper8 »

The only reason I got hired at MAGMA is because I was able to apply & work remote.

I am pretty introverted + slightly autistic (not self diagnosed). I do a lot of customer facing work too, which I would never endure when not working remotely. But working remote means I can just turn off when I'm not feeling so great. Presenting is a lot easier... Approaching people, also, a lot easier. Just send them a message on slack/teams/discord. Before that I would have had to muster the courage to talk to certain people. It's a lot easier to onboard as well, given the change in environment is much smaller.

I feel SO lucky that I just happened to apply for this job when COVID and remote work started.

I think this remote work has equalized the playing field in terms of attractiveness & height aswell, as those qualities are far less visible when interviewing remotely. Wouldn't be surprised if we see the average height of high paid workers decline due to this.

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

#63

Post by thisismyaccoun7 »

Working in government, we're seeing a larger amount of folks leave within a few months of hire. I had never heard of that before COVID.

When I started here years ago and not remote except a one day a month telework option, it took weeks to get involved in a project. Everyone is laid back and wants to give time to acclimate and understand the place and the project first. My PM told me basically, "Hey I hired you for algorithm development, but just look around and see what's needed, what's interesting to you, and from there pick what you want to do."

That might sound awesome, and to me now with experience it is the reason why I stay here. However, as a new employee, it made me super neurotic to not have any sort of direct tasking. It felt like I didn't have work and wasn't being assigned any. I think if I had been remote it would have made things even worse; at the time, one of my saving thoughts was I could be there on time and be seen looking around Confluence or reading to learn about the research topic.

I would definitely be interested to hear how folks onboard freshly hired junior devs onto a project or team, how much direct tasking they give, how much time or how they allow for adapting, etc.

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

#64

Post by organsnyder »

bilekas wrote: post #37
ZetaZero wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I brought in my favorite keyboard before to the office .. They didn't appreciate the noise but MY productivity was top that day.

When I was working in an office I made sure to buy a mechanical keyboard with soft-ish switches (Cherry Brown, IIRC). People still commented on my fancy clicky keyboard, but no one complained (to my knowledge) about the noise.

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

#65

Post by ryanSrich »

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)."

Sounds like you need a new job.

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

#66

Post by giantg2 »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #46

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…

Yep, I used to be more productive WFH when I was already acclimated on a team. When I joined a new team and it turned fully remote, my productivity dropped and it took me longer to come up to speed than if I were in the office.

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

#67

Post by Nowado »

Very convincing methodology.

Ask people on subreddit and LinkedIn a question. Then write another article based on 'I swear, dude'. Link it as a source for this 'article'. Write the rest of the 'article' by imagining what the world has to be like, given your poll is a source of truth.

Follows my favourite format of 'journalism', where there is some arbitrarily chosen data source, followed up by series of 'interviews' mixed into one single 'story'. I'd expect nothing less from a management and HR expert in marketing.

Hopefully we can see some ornithomancy next!

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

#68

Post by dzonga »

Icathian wrote: post #2

While I can understand some of the arguments made about juniors getting some extra benefit from having everything close to hand, the sheer pace of the hit pieces against remote the last month or so is hilarious and very telling.

if majority of the people above you exist to ensure a butt in the seats policy. then yeah you ain't wrong. remote work is just about workers doing their jobs remotely. it signifies worker empowerment - right now the workers are in control. and the corps hate that.

PR firms and middle managers are working over-time to ensure that we go back to the previous model where we all commuted in daily. But the labor market is dictating things atm.

Junior workers will always struggle at a place that doesn't support Juniors to find their own way. some people picture juniors as half seniors. forgetting those roles are completely different in their own way. It's the same reason mid level developers are so much in demand

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