Team Onboarding
Pre-Onboarding
- •Create accounts (email, Slack, GitHub, AWS, etc.) with SSO/2FA
- •Prepare hardware, temporary credentials, password manager guide
- •Compile role-specific docs, update org charts
- •Configure calendar with initial meetings
Week 1: Orientation & Immersion
Day 1: Manager welcome, team intros, role expectations, IT setup, HR paperwork
Codebase:
- •Architecture overview and system diagrams
- •Main repos walkthrough with tech lead
- •Dev workflow, branching strategy, code style
- •CI/CD, deployment, monitoring tour
First Contributions:
- •"Good first issues" tasks
- •Pair programming on simple fix
- •Submit first PR with buddy guidance
Dev Environment Setup
- •IDE + extensions, linters, formatters, debugger, git config
- •Database connections (read-only initially), API keys via secrets manager
- •Container setup, testing framework, staging access
Buddy System
| Week | Frequency | Activities | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daily | Check-in, pair programming | 2 hrs/day |
| 2-3 | 3x/week | Code review, architecture | 1 hr/day |
| 4 | 2x/week | Project collaboration | 30 min/day |
| 5-8 | Weekly | Progress check-in | 1 hr/week |
| 9-12 | Bi-weekly | Mentorship transition | 30 min/week |
Milestones
30-Day
- •Complete mandatory training, merge 3+ PRs
- •Document one process, present learnings (10 min)
60-Day
- •Own small feature end-to-end, shadow on-call
- •Contribute to technical design, cross-team relationships
90-Day
- •Independent feature delivery, active code review
- •Mentor newer member, propose process improvement
Example Plans
Software Engineer (30/60/90)
Day 1-7: IT setup, team intros, dev env, first PR, architecture sessions Week 2-4: 5+ PR reviews as observer, shadow senior, document unclear process Day 31-60: Own first feature, design review, shadow on-call, pair with 3+ members Day 61-90: Lead small project, participate in planning, handle on-call with supervision
Senior/Lead Engineer (Accelerated)
Week 1: Leadership intros, full architecture deep-dive, priorities briefing, stakeholder meetings Week 2-3: Review postmortems, analyze tech debt, audit processes, identify quick wins Week 4: Lead first ceremony, own critical decision, establish 1:1 cadence, submit architectural proposal