In this document we outline the onboarding flow for new colleagues, from junior to mid level and senior personnel.

Pre-onboarding steps (all new personnel)

TBD - but there’s stuff to do before our new colleague starts

• Checklist
  • Hardware [insert inventory]
  • Keys

Basic onboarding steps (all new personnel)

The first day of onboarding starts with a day in person (when possible). The focus is mainly to let them get their new Macbook up and running, give them an introduction to the company, and have them get to know our processes.

• Onboarding day
  • Provide them all the help to get started
  • Setup their environment
  • Get to know our way of working
    • By reading the company handbook
    • Explain declaration form
  • Kickstart the check-in process
    • Gauge what they need
    • Plan their week and if needed look ahead into their first month
• Schedule small chats with as much people as possible
  • Each small chat should be scheduled with at least 2 people
    • This makes the conversations less awkward
  • Important: don’t schedule 1-on-1 small chats, to make the chats easier and more fun
  • Schedule them for about 15 minutes, they can decide if they want to hang around longer
• Introduction presentation
  • Every new team member has the chance to introduce themselves to everybody with a presentation about themselves
  • Discuss this with the new member and schedule the talk at the end of their first or second week

How to onboard a new (entry level) Developer (knowledge onboarding)

When onboarding a (Junior level) developer, we need to let them acclimate to possibly their first job in development. Usually we hire Juniors with at least some experience in our area of expertise, so that is a good starting point to gauge their level and onboarding needs. When the plan is to onboard them onto a project at a certain point, we need to start working towards that goal. This is usually done by letting them do one or more courses on the frameworks or subjects that they will be using in their first project.

• Show them the first project that they will be working on at some point
• Gauge with them if they have the experience needed to be productive
  • Be honest and let them know it’s ok if they don’t know certain things or subjects
• Pick out a course subject for them to do in their first week(s)
• Daily standups with the course as the main subject
• Weekly check-ins to gauge their level

How to onboard a new Developer on to a project

The onboarding on a project has some prerequisites. It is expected that the developer has the skills to be between 30-60% productive depending on their level. If they cannot meet this level, revisit the junior onboarding steps. The goal here is that they are able to pick up backlog items with relative ease.

• Start with a Sprint Planning
  • Pick out small tasks first so they can get to know the project
  • Work up to larger tasks
  • Take into account that they have to get their project environment set up
• Set up their project environment
  • The readme of a project should be sufficient for them to do it themselves
    • If this is not the case, they will need help from a project team member