I was gung-ho about my first job out of college.
I arrived at the lobby early in the morning eager to start. I’ve been in school the whole time and I wanted to work on many different projects, show impact and climb the career ladder as a junior hardware engineer.
I had to wait. Everyone was in meetings in the morning so the day dragged on. Nobody came out to talk to me. An engineer on the team was finally available so he told me to follow along.
What was he going to show me?
We entered a room with a soft hum from all the computer fans. On one side was an open vault for temperature testing with more hardware inside. The engineer went over possible projects I could be working on. He then left to get more documentation.
I leaned against the metal vault’s door and thought about my first day so far.
All I remember next was hearing the engineer enter the room. I snapped up, slamming my head against that metal door. I don’t think he ever saw what happened. Maybe he heard. The only reason he didn’t catch me asleep was because that vault door blocked his view. The engineer said they didn’t have much for me that day since they didn’t forgot when I was showing up. Also half the team was on vacation.
I had no idea what I could read since they would figure that out later. I drove home clueless about what I would be doing next.
I still remember that day. I don’t ever want any of my new hires to be so bored on the initial start date.
Importance of the first day
The first day sets the pace for everything.
Your new hire gets a first impression of all the team members and how well the organization is run. I want to get this new hire up and running quickly and become accustomed to the flow of things. For a typical first day, here’s the breakdown. The schedule is designed for the engineer to understand what they’ll start on, how the project fits in the overall architecture, and meet the team.
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 10:00-11:00 | Signing papers, setting up payroll |
| 11:00-11:30 | Unwrap new laptop! |
| 11:30-12:00 | 1 on 1 with direct manager to understand hope, dreams, ambitions |
| 12:00-1:30 | Team lunch, meet and greet |
| 1:30-2:00 | Architecture overview |
| 2:00-3:00 | Discussion of new project |
| 3:00-4:00 | Introduction to internal software tools like Redmine / Google / Git |
| 4:00-6:00 | Begin Ruby / Rails tutorials |
Team lunch is important – the engineer gets to meet everyone and begin connecting with the staff. My CTO loves to ask about their favorite hobbies as an icebreaker. We go around the table and share one thing we like doing in our personal lives.
If I were to improve my team’s first day, I think we don’t need to spend time on signing papers and setting up payroll. My recommendation is to send these forms ahead of time so the new hire comes in with everything ready.
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