This Is How You Onboard: Actionable Tips for Developers On a New Job from Ian Douglas

The Scrimba Podcast

🎙 About the episode

Meet Ian Douglas 🇺🇸🇨🇦! The first repeat guest on the Scrimba Podcast and author of The Tech Interview Guide, Ian Douglas, has been coding professionally since 1996. With experience at several notable companies and currently working at Postman, Ian is not only a software engineer but also a mentor, streamer, and career coach.

Whether you're a new developer or aiming for a mid-level or senior position, the onboarding process can feel overwhelming. In this episode, Ian shares his invaluable insights on how to make your onboarding experience truly worthwhile. From essential do's and don'ts to areas where proactive engagement is crucial, Ian covers it all. Discover the importance of taking notes, effectively handling negative feedback, and the significance of asking questions. Worried about asking too many questions? Ian addresses that too. With these insights and more, you'll be equipped to have an amazing first few weeks at your new job.

🔗 Connect with Ian

• 👨🏻‍💼 LinkedIn
• 🌐 Website
• 🐦 Twitter

⏰ Timestamps

• Ian's background (02:20)
• Last time we spoke, Ian had been "live blogging" his job search on LinkedIn. Why? (03:07)
• What is onboarding? (07:38)
• How formal is the onboarding process? (08:54)
• Onboarding at startups vs. at bigger companies (11:55)
• Do this to make your onboarding better (12:58)
• What are the expectations from new developers during the onboarding period? (14:06)
• Tip 1: Don't rush your onboarding (15:22)
• If you're maid to feel you're a drain on someone, that's a sign of bad company culture (19:13)
• Be proactive and take time to get to know your coworkers (21:55)
• Tip 2: Find a mentor (23:15)
• You should also have a mentor OUTSIDE the company (24:01)
• How to identify a mentor or a buddy internally (25:41)
• When does a coworker become a mentor? (27:16)
• Tip 3: Ask lots of questions (30:26)
• What are the good questions? (34:09)
• Tip 4: Make it easy for people to give you feedback (35:09)
• Feedback vs. criticism, and how to deal with the latter (35:54)
• Keep track of good feedback, and good track of feedback (40:08)
• How to handle feedback you don't agree with (42:51)
• In software, there's a lot of ways of accomplishing a goal (48:00)
• What are the most improtant traits a developer should have during onboarding? (49:51)

🧰 Resources Mentioned

• Our previous show with Ian: An expert guide to technical interviews

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