5 Ideas for Onboarding and Growing of Engineers
Tags: leadership, culture, career
Published: 2021-11-22 12:48:25

I think for a majority of engineers it is important to focus on growth in technology skills as well as business acumen.  Some people may decide not to engage in this and for the most part it is ok. Solid employees do exist who don’t feel the need to focus on hyper growth in their careers.  This article however will center around the way you accelerate growth within an engineering team from day 1.
## Delight on the First Day
I still remember a few places I joined that didn’t have a computer for me on the first day - which seems crazy to me. This one is simple, make sure the computer is ready to go. Especially in the remote world, you can send it to them early and activate the accounts on schedule for the day they start.  Have their schedule on their calendar including a first connection with a manager. Get them connected by adding the engineer to all relevant communication channels and calendars. Schedule a social time to meet the team even over video. Make sure there is at least one item you give them that has the company logo to show they are truly part of the team.
### At G2
We ship to your house a Macbook Pro which will allow you to connect to the orientation meetings.  All services are provisioned through our SSO directory making the ability to join meetings and the Git Organization seamless. When you are out of all the orientation then you can start to set up your workstation. All of that should not take more than a day.

By the end of the day you will have a meeting with your manager that will walk you through a 90 day plan that will include books, videos and our Onboarding Project.  

There are a number of slack channels you are now added to and can start a conversation.  The most important one to start with is our #dev-help which is the place to ask questions or for support in setting up your workstation.

G2 has an online store where you get a number of G2 branded items like a water bottle.  After that you can order other items like a hoodie or t-shirt and it will show up for you as soon as it’s available.
## Give an Onboarding Project
Every company does development just a little differently even if it is the same language.  Having a project or a set of tasks set aside for the new engineer will allow a safe place to ask questions and explore while not having the pressure to finish a task. This can be as complex as building an app from the ground up if you are working in microservices or as simple as fixing a few bugs.  Also make sure that you have people dedicated to answer questions and support during this project.
###At G2
To alleviate a lot of the uncertainty of knowing how to develop within our main Rails Monolith we have a project with a set of Stories for you to complete and get feedback on as you are learning on the side.  What is amazing is this was a project that was created from an Innovation Sprint, which is a 2 week time of self selected innovation, and is supported by people that had recently onboarded and wanted to make things even better.

The idea is that you won’t be picking up any other work during this time and can fully focus on learning for 2 weeks, alongside any other onboarding engineers, as well as connecting with a number of other engineers to give feedback and support.  At the end you will have at least a good understanding of the tools and practices we use and will be just that much more successful in your team.

This also provides our engineering team with a mechanism for moving forward with this training.  After one group of engineers is onboarded, as alumni, they can assist others in their onboarding project, lessening the load on veteran G2 engineers.
##Set Skill Expectations
Ever been unsure of how you are doing or how to get better? This can be draining and demoralizing if you aren’t seeing progress in your career with little feedback.  Give your engineers the tools to understand where they stand and what it would look like in that next role.  Then allow people to give you feedback on it if it doesn’t cut it.  It doesn’t have to be super complicated but should mimic how you evaluate a person's performance.
###At G2
It is important to G2 that you know how you will be viewed for performance so we created a [Rubric](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ftPv5SXFwQ3nvQwbIs8BXuAyMTtjwzZyArgonqOGRDs/edit?usp=sharing) of the skills and expectations by role.  This not only helps us give feedback but also gives everyone a level understanding of what is expected.  We have broken this out in our PEAK values (Performance, Entrepreneurial Spirit, Authenticity and Kindness) to also help with our PEAK Awards that we give out on a monthly basis. This is also used for bi-annual performance check ins.

When feedback is given we also offer materials specific to the skill which can include online training, books, projects or mentorship with a person skilled in this area. Feedback should not wait for a performance review but will come up as you are working within your team.
##Have Future Conversations
Most engineers don’t have a good picture of what they would like their future to be.  Meaning they don’t know if leadership or architecture is something they would like to pursue. This is where you will have to help out with conversations on where they have been, what they are really good at and what generally excites them.  Many tools exist to help come up with this so I won’t go in detail on them but just know that if you aren’t getting to this level of detail engineers will not reach their full potential.
###At G2
We can walk you through a few exercises that will help you understand what your next career move is. There is a set of questions to help spark some ideas and understand yourself.  This doesn’t happen all at once and will take continual questions within 1:1 conversations to get a clear picture of not only where you want to go but what steps you might take to get there.  

Once the steps are defined you can now set a goal.  A good place for this is within our PEAK Development Plans which uses the Rubric to assess your current skill levels and your future desire to set some shorter term goals to get to that next step. Now that you have goals we can track progress with 1:1 and performance check-ins.
##Connect Personally
This may seem odd for a growth topic.  However, if you have never built trust with people beyond the transactional nature of the day to day it will be hard to have all of the conversations that are most necessary in building people up. You don’t need a program or anything like that here, just stop and ask the questions about their life in the meetings you have with them. Start though by telling about yourself, let them know that you play video games and eat pizza all weekend. Once they see you open your life to them it will be easy for them to do the same and then with a shared understanding of each other trust can be formed.  It is important to respect people's boundaries here, let go of topics that make others uncomfortable or defensive.

This of course doesn’t mean you are trying to be their best friend but just showing that you care. Word of warning though you can’t fake this, it will be obvious and will then erode trust.
###At G2
Ice breakers are used often at G2 in larger meetings.  It can be easy and silly, just ask what was the weirdest thing you saw outside last week? You never know where it will lead and it can be very entertaining and insightful.  

We must get to know each other early in our relationship. To do this we prepare a set of questions that both people answer to share and discuss. Some topics are work related things like best hours or tool preferences, but I also include things about interests, family and ambitions. 

During 1:1’s you should dedicate time to share life happenings outside of work.  Be open to sharing the same, maybe even first. Often people as is life have some difficult times and wouldn’t it be nice to be in their corner supporting them rather than just asking how their project is going?

Be mindful of cultural differences within your team, so like everything, ask for feedback. If the questions are too direct or Ice Breakers are not hitting the mark ask them how best to connect with them. It seems odd to ask this question but really wouldn’t you like to own the type of connection you have with people? This puts the power in their hands to teach you and be authentic about themselves even more.
##Growing Minds
There are times in our lives that we have a huge capacity for growth. Opportunities can open up if you have people around you that are your biggest fans, that want you to succeed. In this type of environment it can be infectious where everyone is learning from each other and relying on each other to do great things. It does take effort but I think you will find it very rewarding to focus on growing people from day 1.