Strong First 90 Days as Software Engineer
Building a strong first 90 days in a new job is important. This period for you to create a positive impression and establish trust, which plays a significant role in shaping your career growth
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Intro
People achieve great careers (and getting promotions) not only because of their skillfulness but also because they gain trust.
This explains why sometimes crucial positions in a company are filled by individuals who may lack of skills.
When you join a new company, the first 90 days (3-month probationary period) are crucial for building a positive impression. Creating a good impression leads to trust. When people trust you, it enables effective collaboration, reliability, and accountability, resulting in successful project outcomes and professional growth. Consequently, this positively impacts your career.
Conversely, if you fail during your first 90 days, it's likely that you leave a negative impression. Reversing a bad impression becomes much more challenging once it has been formed. It may create skepticism even when you perform well, which can hinder your career progression.
In today's article, I will discuss how to have a strong first 90 days, allowing you to make a positive impression and propel your career to new heights.
First Month (Max 1.5 months): Adapt
In Tuckman's stages of group development, when you have just joined a new company, you are in the state of forming. Forming is the process of establishing the structure of the team. During this stage, members may feel uncertain and tend to avoid conflicts in order to be accepted into the group.
In this state, your focus is to learn and adapt to the environment. You need to be proactive and not expect others to adapt to you. Instead, adapt to others.
Here are some actions that you can follow to help you adapt well:
Do one-on-one alignment
It is important to align expectations because it often happens that you fail during your first 90-day probationary period due to having different expectations with your direct report, subordinates, and other co-workers.
Schedule one-on-one meetings with your direct reports to align goals and targets that need to be achieved.
If you are joining as a leader, it is essential to have a conversation with your subordinates.
Assess their current state (whether they are happy or not)
Assess team dynamics
Inquire about preferred communication style
Inquire about bottlenecks
Gain Domain Knowledge
Your goal is to become functionally capable of performing your job. This means that by the end of the month, you should have a comprehensive understanding of your working domain, such as:
Familiarizing with the codebase,
Understand end-to-end technical and user flows,
Identify the users of the product
Gaining insights into how users interact with the product,
And more.
Gaining your working domain knowledge is important because it will set the foundation for a strong performance in the second and third months.
Here are some tips:
Follow the rules:
People generally hate changes, especially when you are new to the team. In the current state, your focus should be on following the existing rules, frameworks, code standardization, and tools that have been established. If there is something you are not satisfied with, make a note of it, but avoid making changes at this point.
Read documentation:
If your company has comprehensive documentation, take the time to study it. Asked to the existing employee if necessary.
Read the code:
Sometimes, reading the code provides a deeper understanding of how the product or features function. Personally, I find this to be particularly useful during my first week at a new company. Understanding the code helps me grasp the how it works both in technical and business.
Experience the product as a user:
Gain a different perspective by approaching the product or feature from the standpoint of a user, rather than solely as a software engineer. Ultimately, the users are the ones who interact with your product, so it is important to understand how they use it.
Listen and Observe More
Adapting well to the company and team culture is another crucial aspect. It is best to listen and observe more than talking or giving suggestions. Through active listening and observation, you will gain insights into the company and team norms, what is considered acceptable or not, as well as their preferences and dislikes. This will contribute to building trust with your co-workers.
Build Relation
It is essential to establish friendly relationships with your co-workers. I highly recommend finding the influential individuals in your team, often referred to as the "group leaders"
This person is typically the leader or manager (not always). Engaging in conversations with them will help you understand the team dynamics, develop rapport, and identify key individuals who can offer guidance, support, and valuable insights for navigating the team and organization effectively.
Building trust with these influential individuals will also facilitate gaining trust from others in the team.
Month 2 - 3: Getting Involved & Make Impression
After the first month, you are expected to have adapted well to the new environment. This is typically demonstrated by receiving more important projects, receiving positive feedback, and gaining the attention and respect of others.
During the second and third months (90 days), it's a showtime. According to Tuckman's stages of group development, it's time to transition from the Forming stage to the Storming stage. However, it's important not to rush and approach it with a softer, more collaborative approach. During this period, the key is to be highly involved and engaged.
Here's what you can do during this period:
Proving Expectations
During the first month, you received expectations from your superiors and colleagues (through one-on-one). Now it's time to prove those expectations. Typically, expectations revolve around delivering work on time and with accuracy. Ensure that you meet deadlines and deliver high-quality results. If necessary, go the extra mile to surpass expectations. Be honest about your strengths and weaknesses, and focus on demonstrating tangible results.
If you fail to exceed expectations during this period, it is likely that you have not fully adapted to the company or that there is a skill gap that needs to be addressed.
Address Improvement
You may want to make a list of areas that need improvement, whether they are:
Technical (such as: tech stack),
Procedural (such as: efficient code review),
or even Related to team culture (such as: how to communicate in slack)
It is now your opportunity to address these issues, discuss their impact, and propose solutions.
Take More Responsibilities (Help Others)
If you have already proven yourself and met expectations, it's time to take on additional responsibilities. Discover a list of tasks that go beyond your main job but are essential for the team. For example:
Assisting the operations support team
Identifying and organizing bugs
Establishing standards
Updating documentation
And more
Often, there are tasks that require extra hands and fall under the category of going the extra mile. Take the initiative to assume these responsibilities and contribute to the team's success.
Alternatively, if necessary, you can take over some of the tasks assigned to your direct reports. For instance, if your direct report is responsible for task breakdown, you can offer to take on that responsibility yourself.
TL;DR
In the first month (0-30 day), focus on adapting to your coworkers, teams, and company by aligning expectations and gathering knowledge.
In the 31-90 day period, prove yourself by meet (or even exceed) the expectations. Get involved, make a good impression by contributing to improvements, and take on more responsibilities.
By following these tips, you can leave a strong and lasting impression, which in turn builds trust. This will undoubtedly contribute to your career growth.
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