How to Join a New Company Effectively by Tiger Abrodi

How to join a new company effectively - by Tiger Abrodi #

Excerpt #

Get up to speed and quickly start contributing in a meaningful way.

Use the Product #

The best thing you can do anywhere is to use the product.

Use it. Understand the problems it solves. Since you come in with fresh eyes, it’s easy to come up with ideas on how you can improve it.

If anything is confusing, ask questions. Those questions can lead to new ideas. Ideas you can contribute with and instantly stand out as someone who isn’t just a factory worker. But someone who cares about the business, product and takes ownership.

Ask about the business #

Learn more about the company’s origin story. Understand the core vision.

Learn about the users. Watch customer research videos. Learning how users use your product will validate the assumptions you had. We all assume our users use the product in a certain way.

However, these assumptions must be validated. It’ll also help you contribute with even more meaningful ideas.

Review past issues #

Look at past issues the team has had. This will help you be more effective when encountering the same or similar issues.

This doesn’t just have to be post-mortems, but can also be bug fixes. You can find them looking at past tickets or pull requests.

Look into the process of solving those bugs. Some teams have “runbooks”, documents used to describe the process of solving issues that may arise again.

Set up 1:1s with teammates #

I strongly recommend setting up 1:1 meetings with your new teammates. This isn’t just an opportunity to build relationships that go a long way, but to learn:

• Recommendations to work effectively within the team.

• Important things to know.

• Recent issues and how the team overcame those issues.

• Resources to learn more about the business domain.

Take notes #

Don’t underestimate taking notes. I do it myself. Even when just having a conversation with someone.

When you take notes, you aren’t just making sure you don’t miss anything, but that you understand everything.

I’m an avid note-taker. I love how I never forget or skip anything because of note-taking.

Subscribe to Saiyan Growth Letter #

Excel in your software engineering career and become a super saiyan with bite-sized actionable advice.