Experience level based on Onboard
A new-grad software engineer holds different expectations for onboarding than an experienced software engineer. By understanding this difference and customizing your engineering onboarding, you can show new hires how much you value their success and relationship with your company.
This guide will provide you with tips on how to hire experienced software engineers. You hired them because of their vast experience. With an onboarding procedure that allows them to contribute to your codebase and team faster, empower them to leverage their expertise immediately.
What is onboarding all about? What is onboarding
Onboarding is about more than just paperwork and processes. It’s about fully integrating someone into your organization. This includes learning about the organization’s values, becoming familiar with its tech stack, and working with a mentor. That’s just in the first few weeks.
It prepares new employees for success in their roles, teams, and the organization. It is important to ensure that new hires are properly onboarded for all positions, particularly for software engineers at the senior level who must be able to get up and running quickly.
Other reasons also matter for quality engineering onboarding. It increases value, satisfaction, and retention.
Hire software engineers and consider pre-onboarding concerns
Onboarding is primarily driven by hiring managers and HR professionals. Success also depends on the new hire. How can you find the best candidates before the onboarding phase? The hiring process for software engineers begins with the initial interview.
Look for flexibility
Developers with experience tend to prefer specific programs, tools, and processes. It’s right, but a rigid team member can cause unnecessary friction.
Look for candidates who will be open to new methods of working. Team members should be willing to accept that their preferred tools and processes may need to be revised in new environments.
What is the difference between developers and coders
It would be best to have a software engineer who can execute a vision. Their senior-level experience, time in the industry, and software development skills will be brought to the table to drive improvements and innovation. They’re not just a coder with experience who wants to code but also a developer who writes code for business outcomes.
Asking interview questions such as “Have you ever identified a need for a company project?” will help determine if the candidate has this focus. How did you implement it, and what was the impact?
A person without a strategic vision might say, “I added this feature to the project just because it was fun.” Someone with a bigger perspective may say “I contributed these features because they are essential for improving the user’s experience and meeting the client’s needs.”
Examine the candidate’s attitude toward work. Do they complete their tasks, or do they seek meaningful work?
Working with your HR team and recruitment team
Create a bridge between your tech, recruiting, and HR teams to ensure everyone is on the same page about hiring criteria. It is far too familiar for HR teams to write job descriptions, not engineering managers. It can lead to errors in technical terms, like asking for seven years of experience with a tool that has only been around for two years.
The onboarding process would only improve if the hiring manager had insight into the hiring process.
Perform post-mortems
Even if you’ve done everything possible, hiring candidates who are not a good match for the position is still possible. Although unfortunate, this is an opportunity to improve your hiring process.
Say, for example, you have hired a promising candidate. They’re still doing the same work that most people do in the first three weeks. You will see it again if you don’t deal with it and let it go.
It’s crucial to work with your HR team to do a post-mortem in order to determine what went wrong and why. Together, you will be able to answer questions such as:
What happened in the hiring process that caused this?
How can we ensure that we screen candidates more thoroughly?
How can we ensure the job description matches the hiring manager’s wants and needs?
Checklist for Senior Software Engineers onboarding
Software engineers who are experienced want to get started quickly. Use these tips to build An onboarding checklist to help senior developers have an immediate impact.
Equipment and permissions are required before the first day
To allow senior engineers to jump right in, they should have their equipment ready. As soon as you decide to hire someone, create a work order for your IT department. The new engineer should only need to log in and change their password when they receive their laptops.
Before they start, ensure that the employee has the correct permissions to view the following information:
Source code
Development environment
Test environment
Staging environment
Production
Relevant database servers
Set up your local development environment
Software engineers can only start building software with a locally configured development environment. This includes code editors, tools, local web servers, and database servers. With a documented procedure, engineers may save weeks setting up the local development environment.
It can cause their team members to have negative opinions of their new colleagues: “Why are they taking so long?” Create step-by-step directions that describe how to set up the local development environment. Include troubleshooting advice, such as, “If you see an error, you have done this step incorrectly.” You should be able to proceed if you take action.
You should review your instructions regularly to ensure they are precise and current.
Clear documentation helps new employees get up and running quickly. It’s a great resource for everyone on the team. The information will help restore the local development environment if a laptop is lost or crashes.
Team bonding is essential
The sooner someone feels part of the team, the quicker they will start contributing. Include new team members in the group as soon as you can. You can go out to lunch together or create an activity that will help you develop a sense of team identity. The team bonding process also allows everyone to get to know each other better. It can help reduce friction in the future.
Give swag
It’s not enough to make up for a destructive onboarding process or a toxic work environment. Still, company swag is a great way to show your appreciation and reinforce ties within the team. Some companies give gift cards to swag shops so that new employees can choose items they will use.