Onboarding Meeting with Mentor

I have a bunch of thoughts:

Build personal projects to gain familiarity with the software

This is where side projects or tutorials are extremely valuable. What you build doesn't really matter; you want to focus on the basic process/buttons to get things done as a developer.

For example, if you're an Android developer intern, you should absolutely be familiar with the common Android Studio menu items and basic functionality.

If you're on a screen share with your mentor and it's clear that you don't know how to build/run the app, that's a bad look. Even if the company has custom software (e.g. Facebook did have a modified version of Android Studio), the knowledge you have will be extremely helpful.

Look up documentation

I don't often recommend this, but in this case I think it's worth reading documentation, especially when it comes to screenshots of screencasts (videos). If you're asking something like "is the button you want me to look at to the left or right of the Save button," that indicates a lack of familiarity with the terminology of app development.

I'd want to be able to say something like "click on the compilation tool window" and you should ideally know what that means. Spend some time understanding the iconography and common workflows with different tools.

Most Big Tech cos will have invested at least some energy in this.

Ask your mentor to show you first

Doing something for the first time, sight unseen, is very challenging. Can you pair program with your mentor and have them "drive" initially while you observe their screen? Interrupt with questions and take notes.

The familiarity you gain here will be extremely valuable when you attempt to do the task on your own.

BTW, being in person is much better for this. Figure out how you can work in person with your colleagues if at all possible.

Here are some good ideas for what else you should talk about: How do I best make use of my mentor when I am onboarding?

IDEs have a ton of buttons, so don't feel free if you can't immediately find something that a mentor points you too. "It's in the menu at the top right" can often times mean like 8 different things 🤣

There's 2 simple things you can do:

1. Use the tools outside of work - Getting used to common dev tools like command line and certain IDEs is just building muscle memory. Do some side projects to make your hands and eyes familiar with common workflows like building a project, navigating to a certain file, adding break points, etc.
2. Just ask for help - There's nothing wrong with asking questions, especially as an intern and if you ask high-quality questions. You can always lighten the mood by prefacing your questions with something like, "Sorry, my eyes don't work... 😅".