Onboarding Q&A and Videos

What strategies can I employ to excel in my new role as a senior software engineer at a tier 1 tech company, coming as a mid level engineer.

So I have worked in codebases where there’s one repo per microservice or maybe at most 7-8 services in 1 repo with good CI/CD that’s isolated. Those repos we just develop independently of one another. I’ve seen this throughout my career of 4 YOE. Is it a fair statement to say that “I don’t know what real onboarding is”?

I usually have gotten away with knowing

• the structure of spring boot microservice,
• maven gradle dependency downloading,
• how kafka consumer works in spring
• how rest api typically gets exposed in spring
• high level knowledge of spring bean creation
• how db interactions have been done.
• reading the arch diagram and learning where the infra is to connect dots.

This has made me able to ramp up fast and get productive within 2 weeks and follow discussions.

I don’t know if I just have “had it easy my whole career and I need to step my game up”

I've recently joined a new company, and I got up-levelled to be a senior swe through the interview process. This would be my first senior engineering role at a large tech company (where tech is a profit center) relative to some of my other experiences.

• What mindset shifts do I need to have?
• How do I go about creating impact?

Hello!

I used to work for a large fin tech company but recently got a job at a client-based company. They flew me into the office for an onboarding week and the culture and people are fantastic. I even made a decision to move from DC into the Houston office just cause of the people and weirdly I realized that my personality is a bigger asset than I realized. I enjoy chatting with people, and a Director of Product even told me "I don't usually hold 1:1s with the new folks but your personality was shining so bright!"

I only give this info cause I'm not very confident in my technical skills. While I got a great performance review in my last company, it was because of my determination, my willingness to go full stack when no one wanted to, and cause I was very close with the Product and Design team. Tbh that's also cause I don't really nerd out about state management or the newest framework or whatever like everyone else seems to. I enjoy frontend cause I like making pretty things and that's it. I'm not the person who is constantly thinking about how to make our testing process or pipelines better. I can learn those things if I need to but it doesn't come naturally to me.

I have admitted some of this to folks at my new company and they've been super cool about it. They even suggested I dabble into a Technical PM role. That's still something I'm chewing on cause while it's silly, I love typing things on my pretty little IDE and I like fewer meetings. But I don't imagine coding forever. In my company, a senior engineer gets to lead a project, manage people, and talk to clients. I'm aiming for a senior role cause I think it aligns more with my natural skill sets as I believe my soft skills are stronger than my technical skills.

My manager became a senior recently and told me it was because he was willing to do whatever client project came in whatever language that was required. He's the same age as me and only started coding 3 years ago after a BootCamp. This is his only company but I'll admit, I feel like he's a stronger engineer than I am. I've been in the company for a few weeks, and I've been getting my stories done quickly even though their tech stack is new (but everyone is fast) but I'm not sure how to even become a Senior since I don't know if I will be able to become the rockstar engineer that my manager is. I will move earliest in September so I'm remote until then. Projects also come and go so fast. Any ideas on how to standout?

I am soon going to join Meta (Monetisation org) as a mid-SWE.

Before this, I spent <5 years at my previous company. The last 1.5 years weren’t that great for me. I didn’t have much opportunity to grow or learn. I had a medical emergency and also lost interest in my role due to the company's deteriorating culture and benefits. So, I mostly stayed there for the RSUs.

Now I want to start fresh and start with the same zeal of a student out of college. I aim to become a Sr at Meta in a year. I know monetisation is a rough org for a SWE but I want to see it as the next stepping stone.

I wanted your advice on how to:

1. Start showing impact in a month
2. What initiatives can I take to start behaving as E5 within 2-3 months of joining?

PS: I have already gone through the and it was super helpful. With this post, I want to get something more specific to Meta and(or) monetization org. For eg:

1. How to deal with Meta's internal team politics?
2. How to approach the "1 year" target with the manager?
3. What things should I focus on? (like being proactive in the team's operation excellence meetings, focussing more on doc and code reviews, or building strong relationships with existing E5/E6 and getting help from them) - I am sure it will be a combination of multiple stuff.

I wanted to share an update and seek advice following my first 1:1 with my manager. Based on one of Alex's earlier suggestions, I inquired about how many commits I should aim to have landed after my first month to gauge my ramp-up progress. My manager mentioned that he doesn't track commit counts as a metric.

Given this, I'm curious about how I should approach setting tangible goals or milestones for my initial period at the company. Without commit counts as a metric, what would be a good way to measure my progress and contributions during the ramp-up phase?

I'd greatly appreciate your insights on this.

Following up on my previous message, I've been pondering whether my manager's response regarding not tracking commit counts might be influenced by my recent joining of the team. Is it common for managers to initially downplay the importance of specific metrics like commit counts for new team members, perhaps to alleviate early pressure or for other reasons?

Hi Taro Community,

I’m a recent addition to my company and have embarked on my journey with a few initial tickets, completing 3 PRs in the span of 2.5 weeks. Alongside these tasks, I’ve been provided with architectural and design documents to help me grasp the broader system. However, these documents are quite high-level and, at times, challenging to comprehend fully, especially without knowing which sections are most pertinent to my current work.

Given the breadth of information and my eagerness to effectively contribute, I’m contemplating the best approach to balance my tasks with learning. Here are a few points I’m considering and would love your insights on:

1. Targeted Learning from Documents: Should I consult with my mentor on which specific parts of the document would be most beneficial for me to focus on initially, considering my current assignments?
2. Codebase Familiarization: How should I approach diving into the codebase? Is it advisable to ask my mentor for guidance on specific modules or areas that align with my tickets or overall team objectives?
3. Balancing Tasks and Learning: What strategies have you found effective for simultaneously working on assigned tickets, understanding high-level documentation, and becoming familiar with the codebase? Is there a recommended balance or sequence that could optimize my ramp-up process?

Navigating the initial phase and ensuring I’m building a solid foundation is my top priority. Any experiences, strategies, or advice you can share on managing these early stages of onboarding would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your support and guidance.

I'll be starting at Instacart in a couple weeks as an L4 Data Engineer on contract for 6 months to start. I'm coming from a finance company where things move slowly. I was a high performer in my department while regularly working 3 hours a day or less. Much of my time spent at my old job was dedicated towards finding my new job - applying, interviewing, taking courses, etc.

I know I will encounter a culture shock when I start at IC and want to prepare myself as much as possible for it. Mentally, I am taking the approach that I will put in a solid full-day, 8 hours of work every day and perhaps work some weeknights and weekends as well, although I'd like to minimize the need to do that by being effective and prioritizing work during my regular work hours.

In terms of preparation, from Taro I have gleaned that there are 2 main areas I should be focusing on:

1. Code Quality and Velocity

2. Communication

For 1), I have bookmarked on the topic and plan on doing it before I start working. For 2), I have bookmarked and likewise plan on finishing the course before starting work. I actually plan on doing Rahul's Onboarding Course before Alex's Code Course.

Is there anything else I should be aware of? I have gone through already as well as looked over these threads:

I imagine the advice for me is virtually identical to the above threads, but if there's anything I'm missing, please fill me in!

Thanks!!

My manager initially told me we'd probably meet once a month. They manage several teams so we have only interacted once. I'm also on a contract and have a goal to get converted full-time. My "onboarding buddy" who I have weekly 1 on 1s with is not a developer - they're a PM. There's 1 other engineer on the team who is in a completely different time zone - our time overlap is minimal. The rest of the team are data scientists.

Who should I focus on getting feedback from if my direct manager is not involved in assigning tasks? the PM? the engineer in a different time zone who does not control my tasks but knows the most about the codebase? Both?

Hi Taro Community,

I've recently embarked on a new journey where I'm currently the sole team member based outside the US. The team here in India is still in the process of being established. My mentor, recognizing my unique position, has assigned me some smaller, initial tasks to get started. However, I'm aware that the project I'm ultimately supposed to contribute to is still in its nascent stages, with the codebase likely not fully available/developed yet.

This situation leads me to a couple of questions:

1. How can I proactively learn about and understand the codebase more closely aligned with my future work, especially when it might not be fully available or developed at this stage?
2. How will working on these initial, potentially unrelated tasks benefit me in the long run, especially if they don't directly tie into the main project I'll be working on?

I'm keen to make the most out of this initial phase and ensure a smooth transition into my core project once it's fully underway. Any insights, experiences, or advice on how to navigate this scenario would be greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to your valuable suggestions.

I've worked at meta and stripe but in april I'll be starting a new job at anthropic. At this point i feel comfortable spinning up on new things at large companies where onboarding lasts months and the first couple weeks are just listening to presentations, but anthropic is the smallest company i'll have worked for (~1000 people) and their onboarding plan is a little intimidating. They want me to merge 1-3 diffs in my first week and to be fully spun up after 30 days.

What should i do to really hit the ground running that this new job and start pushing code from the start. I'll be on the growth team which is something im comfortable with since i did growth at meta, so mainly just looking for advice on how to learn a new codebase and company that's much smaller than i'm used to.

I'm about to join a FAANG level company soon, what are some of the best practices to follow and how to create a 30-60-90 day plan for onboarding?

There's so many teams to choose from - It can be overwhelming. However, in a company as large as Meta, I'm sure there's huge variance among teams. How can I find one that works for me, particularly when it comes to find E5 scope for promotion?

While onboarding to my first Big Tech company which represents a huge boost for me in terms of comp, learning, and company prestige, does it make sense to put my social life on pause for a few months?

I'm single and have few other responsibilities.

The logic here is to put myself in the best position to succeed by working extra on weeknights and weekends and not getting distracted.

The argument against doing this it could lead to burnout and be counterproductive.

I figure there's a balance here. Maybe focus hard on my job for 3 - 6 months and after that relax a little? I.e. be more proactive about having fun on weekends and dating.

I just signed an offer with one of my dream tech companies that significantly increases my comp. I'm excited to be starting, but nervous about hitting the ground running. Will be making liberal use of Taro courses to guide me!

I have 3 questions:

1. should I tell people on my team where I'm going? I don't see how I get around this. My concern is I don't want people to be envious that I'm leaving for a better opportunity that pays a lot more. I think it's unavoidable, and I imagine this just comes down to being as considerate and professional as I can be.

2. This is about balancing finishing up at my old job and preparing for my new one. I know good practice is to prep an offboarding plan and try and tie up as many loose ends as possible. Regardless, there are simply things I won't be able to do in the 2 weeks I have left. Then there's prepping for my new job. I don't have familiarity with a bunch of the tools we're using and want to do anything I can to prep for it since I want to make a good impression when I start and I know the pace of my new job will be at least 2x what it is in my current one. Basically, this comes down to should I take time out of my remaining 2 weeks to prep for my new job the way I did when I was interviewing and trying to get my new job? I feel like there's no right answer here, just a spectrum. What I'm thinking right now is I'll try working with my current manager and getting a reasonable amount done in my old/current job for every day I have left, but no more than that. All other time will go to prep.

3. Should I post that I got my new job on LinkedIn? Similar to my first question, I'm sensitive to how others may feel. Equally important, I don't feel secure in my job and feel like I only want to post about it or switch my status after I feel a certain level of comfort there (if it ever comes) or time spent there (more deterministic). If I were not to list it on LI, I would either need to have myself still working at my old job or appear to be unemployed.

Thanks!

I have a lot of expectations on my plate, and it can be hard to handle. I'm being put on a project soon, but I do have some spare time here and there. How can I make effective use of this time, and is there anything I should focus on during onboarding in general?

This week has been hectic, transitioning from one organization to another, getting acquainted with a new boss, and diving into new projects. How have you handled this situation in your jobs? What has helped you, what has hurt you? I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to turn this situation to my advantage rather than letting it become a setback.

I am moving to a different organization within my current company where I will be working with a new domain and new language (C#)

Looking for some concrete advice to get clarity in terms of expectations from my new manager and also work with him to upskill myself in the new product fast.

I am also looking for concrete tips on how to upskill beyond syntactical on more intermediate and advanced concepts in the new language? How do other engineers approach learning a new language beyond the surface.

I'm in the first few weeks of onboarding and I'm hearing I'm expected to lead a new project initiative because the lead engineer decided to leave the company.

The project is barely off the ground lacking resources, technical design, requirements etc. and I'm afraid I have to produce something meaningful within a tight deadline over the course of the next few months.

What do I do? On one hand, this seems like a good opportunity to deliver. But on the other hand, it doesn't seem like a successful onboarding path. I'm extremely new to the company, and executing on a multi team / scope initiative like this seems like a big ask.

Should I ask to be placed somewhere where I'll have more support?

I'm joining a great FAANG company in the next 2 weeks. Within a few weeks after joining the Company , I’m getting married. I might take 2 weeks off for my marriage. How can I handle this situation without hampering relationships and expectations from the Org?

I am in a new team. I was given a task to provide estimations on a project that involves various components. 2 components were owned by a different team and they were transferred to my team. I have no idea about those components. My senior engineer told me to contact a person to get estimation from someone in a sister team who previously worked on that component. This person gave me estimates as 8 and 10 weeks and didn't get response when I asked if he could share some details. I didn't try to deep dive as these components are again getting transferred to a different team. Nobody in my team has knowledge about these two components.

In the meeting where all teams in the org were present, reviewing the estimates. My senior director asked justification for the estimates, the person who gave me the estimates told I have written the estimates. So I told I don't have details and written the estimates as per this person.

I often get stuck in these type of awkward situations. This is clearly not an onboarding task. How can I deal with these situations and how I could have communicated better?

I am moving teams for the first time in my three-year long career and the team I am moving to is full of very experienced folks(15-20) with the least experienced person with 10 YoE. Some of these folks have also been in the same team for years. I will be new in the team as well as tech stack.

How do I create impact, learn from these people, be able to create my own identity and not be shrugged off as a "junior engineer" who is not given important tasks?

Any additional tips on how can I leverage this move as a fresh start? Like relationship with manager, team and my attitude towards the work?

I have 4 weeks before I begin as an entry level engineer in a popular big tech company in their cloud offering division. I wanted to get at least 3 actionable steps on how to set myself up for success in my new role both in tech and in relationships.

Please also discuss any common anti patterns I need to be aware of.

I'll be using a new technology (cloud) and my first step was to buy relevant books. But I realized that it's inefficient and took up an online course to build a small project. Just want to hear how you would approach your month before the job.

As a new hire, I want to make a strong first impression.

On the other hand, if I go the extra mile and overachieve early, will I be setting a bar for future expectations so that when I return to normal effort I might be perceived as not as effective as initially thought, or decreasing in performance?

That's the main question. More generally, should we ever over-exert? If the answer is "sometimes," then how do select the cases?