Onboarding Success: Learn the Cold Start Algorithm


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I was “the new engineer” seven times in my careerDuring four courses and three full -time jobs. My first job after university was as a founding engineer (employee # 3) in a Stanford startup. The integration into this company was as simple as “Here is your laptop, good luck!”
This startup was acquired by Pinterest, who was a darling of the Silicon Valley undergoing hyperprowth at the time with around 400 employees. Pinterest had more processes than the startup, but the product and the company changed quickly. Integrated documents were often incorrect or obsolete.
I then joined Facebook (now Meta) as a senior engineer, entering a large technological environment with tens of thousands of employees. Facebook is famous for a very structured approach to integration via Bootcamp, a program of several weeks to put engineers informed.
In addition to the transitions of the company, I also had “mini-publicity” within a company during the change of team or moving myself due to a re-org. The technological industry moves today incredibly quickly, so your ability to adapt and accelerate quickly is essential for career success.
It is easy to feel overwhelmed during the integration process because there is so much to learn: a new code base, team dynamics and corporate culture. Instead of relying on standard documentation and training sessions, I discovered a more proactive approach among the new most efficient employees. This strategy allows you to develop quickly with confidence.
The algorithm for intro 1: 1
When you are new, don’t wait for the information to come to you. A great way to search for information is to have individual meetings with your new colleagues. Here is the “career Cold starting algorithm ”I used for these conversations. (This comes from a Meta CTO blog article.)
During these individuals, ask three key questions:
- “What should I, as an engineer as an engineer, knowing?” (25 min) This helps you gather critical and not filtered information from a person’s point of view.
- “What are the biggest challenges the team is faced with?” (3 min) This reveals the team’s pain points and the place where you can potentially make a quick difference.
- “Who else should I speak to?” (2 min) This helps you configure 1: 1 later. By asking him several times, you will start to see a model like the same names appear frequently. These people are the people of trust and influential who are likely to be essential to your future projects.
If you join a larger company, I recommend that you plan at least ten individual conversations during your first two weeks. Take advantage of the fact that everyone wants to meet the new person! This list must include your direct manager, its manager and each member of your immediate team.
Speak and observe
Talking to colleagues is precious, but actions speak more than words. When you are new, observe how your teammates spend their time. This should be quite easy because engineering work will naturally create by-products that reveal priorities and objectives.
If you are a software engineer, for example, look at the code or design documents that a colleague has contributed to having an idea of the rhythm of the team and their priorities. What they document is a direct reflection of what they appreciate.
Or, if possible, look at your teammates to see how they allocate their time. Are they in consecutive meetings, or do they have significant blocks of development time for deep work? This simple act provides a multitude of information on team standards and individual work styles.
This combination of speaking and observing has immediate advantages. You can ask more thoughtful questions during meetings, identify opportunities in existing projects and above all, on a culturally. When you understand the standards of your new team around meetings, code review or product launches, you will quickly adapt to your new environment.
The implementation of the “Talk and observes” frame will give you confidence and impact in your new role. Good luck!
—Rahul
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