Start again and again
I am walking to the train after work on Friday, shooting small talk with Hussain (a Senior Data Engineer). He's one of the friendlier folks at ShopRunner that have made it a point to come say hello to me my first week.
Hussain asks me "So you're the Javascript expert, huh?" I laugh incredulously "I suppose I am."
---
My first week has been a blur of interactions with new co-workers. Many of whom are relatively new themselves.
My starting group (the group of folks who started the same day as me) consists of three new hires: myself, Ben, and Fadi. I am joining as Lead Javascript Engineer. Ben is Visual Design Lead. Fadi is joining as Lead DevOps Engineer. I tell both of them that I will be hitting both of them up in my capacity as Lead Javascript Engineer.
Our first week is filled with Orientation meetings to meet the leaders in the organization and learn about the business. We meet Dani from the Talent Team who is our sherpa through our onboarding process. Dani is giving us a tour of the office, showing us where Finance, Data Science, Analytics, Talent Team, etc. sit.
"And Charlie sits over on the other side of this desk."
I don't see any Charlie. I step around the desk and see a tiny white dog wearing a white collar and tie.
"Oh shit! Charlie is adorable! Hi, Charlie."
Charlie stares back at me, bemused.
The Enterprise Platform team I'm on with Paul and Matt did not have a solid onboarding process for me. They gave me permissions to Github, Jira, Slack, etc. and I started figuring it out, with many questions for Paul and Matt.
By day 3 I had drafted up an onboarding plan for myself which I shared with Matt and Paul. There is a LOT for me to do to get familiar with the codebase, team, and team process. Not to mention the organization as a whole, and all of the other engineers I will have to know both here in Chicago and in Pennsylvania.
On my first day, in a casual conversation with Paul and the Matt (the office coordinator), I bring up how nice it would be to have a whiteboard. Paul agrees with me. Matt tells us if we ever need anything to let him know and he'll get it approved and to us.
On day 3 I'm at my desk reading through documentation when Matt comes by my desk dragging a giant box. I comment "Holy shit, what have you got there?" Matt tells me "I've got a present for you." "A present for me? Nice!" "Yeah, this is the white board you asked for" Matt tells me beaming. I laugh incredulously "That's awesome - I didn't know I was putting in a formal request! Thanks, man!"
My manager, Matt, and me spend a few minutes unboxing and assembling the whiteboard. I am excited. I love that we have a board to draw out design discussions now.
Paul is very accommodating to my questions the first few days: answering my questions about the codebase, engineering culture, company history (back a year, which is how long he's worked at this shop), codebase history and context.
By the 4th and 5th days Paul's anxious to ask my opinion on code implementations he's working on, and on architectural design decisions he's proposing to the organization next week. Matt (and maybe Paul) will be presenting this proposal in some large engineering meetings next week. I ask Matt to add me to the meetings: "I would love to be a fly on the wall. It will give me a lot of context for what is happening."
Paul is asking me about how to handle moving configurations out of the global scope and move towards modularization, given the complex needs of the codebase. Certain Partner's code needs to be able to override functionality, and it has traditionally been done by reassigning properties on a global object. Paul has come up with a proof of concept and messages me with a link to it Thursday evening. I spend a few hours thinking about it and writing up a large response to it (with praise, critique, and recommendations).
I am worried because I don't know this team, I don't know the codebase, and here they're asking me for design input on my fourth day. I was brought in with a Lead title and I almost feel like I'm being tested. The imposter syndrome is real. I also don't want to make strong recommendations without having a thorough understanding of all of their use cases and of who they are as a team/culture. I absolutely believe the right solution is different based on many factors.
Friday morning me and Paul spend an hour discussing the problem, Paul's PoC, and my comments. Dude really likes some of my suggestions and ideas (as I liked some of his instincts on strategy). We are starting to build a rapport and I'm feeling more like he's eager to utilize my knowledge and experience than he's trying to test me.
I also pull time with Taylor so she can introduce me to some of our janky internal tools: PikMonitor and DevRunner. Everything in tech has stupid names.
A summary of my first week:
* Orientation meetings, 1-2 a day for most of the days.
* Start to know the team in Chicago: Paul (Sr. Engineer), Taylor (Apprentice), Sammy (Apprentice), Andrew (Product Manager).
* Start to learn the team's process and culture.
* Attended standup with all of the team's developers and QEs, many of whom are in Pennsylvania. It will take me some time to get to know them all.
* I am already scheduled to conduct interviews on Monday. This shop is BUSY. There is a LOT to do.
---
For the last week I've been going to bed early (between 8:30 and 10:00, going to bed at 11:00 on Thursday because Paul's stupid PoC had me up thinking about the problem and drafting a response). I've also been waking up earlier (between 4:30am and 5:30am) to ensure I have enough time to exercise and make a smoothie before heading out to the office.
This is unnatural for me. My natural rhythms make me more productive as a night owl. But I want to see if I can sustain this. I am also doing my best to try to maintain a healthier work/life balance this time around. There will always be work to do, I have to learn to disengage.
My diet has been getting better as well. Fruit, homemade pesto, grain (pasta and bread), olive oil mostly these past couple weeks. I eat out a lot less now (1-2 times a week). Something else I hope to sustain. Not so much for vanity as I need to be at peak operational efficiency going into the second half of my 30s.
I've kept up my weekly conversations with Paul as well.
I feel good most mornings. It's a lot to deal with but I'm handling it. I'm older, more experienced, and my brain is less intense lately.
I've built up a strong reputation and promising career. I dunno what Matt has told the team at ShopRunner about me, but everyone has been friendly so far and seem to be giving me clout right out of the gate. Clout is something I'm used to earning so it feels uncomfortable to have it with a group of strangers. Ex-colleagues still stay in touch and come to me for advice.
My body is still strong. I love exercise and I hope I don't abandon it again. I very much like feeling good when I leave the house for work.
My landlady likes me a lot, is keeping rent very competitive for the area, and is installing a washer/dryer unit in here next week.
Oh, and this shop is paying me very fucking well. According to the internet I'm in the 94th/95th percentile of wage earners. To quote my favorite comedian: "I'm rich, bitch!"
Hussain asks me "So you're the Javascript expert, huh?" I laugh incredulously "I suppose I am."
---
My first week has been a blur of interactions with new co-workers. Many of whom are relatively new themselves.
My starting group (the group of folks who started the same day as me) consists of three new hires: myself, Ben, and Fadi. I am joining as Lead Javascript Engineer. Ben is Visual Design Lead. Fadi is joining as Lead DevOps Engineer. I tell both of them that I will be hitting both of them up in my capacity as Lead Javascript Engineer.
Our first week is filled with Orientation meetings to meet the leaders in the organization and learn about the business. We meet Dani from the Talent Team who is our sherpa through our onboarding process. Dani is giving us a tour of the office, showing us where Finance, Data Science, Analytics, Talent Team, etc. sit.
"And Charlie sits over on the other side of this desk."
I don't see any Charlie. I step around the desk and see a tiny white dog wearing a white collar and tie.
"Oh shit! Charlie is adorable! Hi, Charlie."
Charlie stares back at me, bemused.
The Enterprise Platform team I'm on with Paul and Matt did not have a solid onboarding process for me. They gave me permissions to Github, Jira, Slack, etc. and I started figuring it out, with many questions for Paul and Matt.
By day 3 I had drafted up an onboarding plan for myself which I shared with Matt and Paul. There is a LOT for me to do to get familiar with the codebase, team, and team process. Not to mention the organization as a whole, and all of the other engineers I will have to know both here in Chicago and in Pennsylvania.
On my first day, in a casual conversation with Paul and the Matt (the office coordinator), I bring up how nice it would be to have a whiteboard. Paul agrees with me. Matt tells us if we ever need anything to let him know and he'll get it approved and to us.
On day 3 I'm at my desk reading through documentation when Matt comes by my desk dragging a giant box. I comment "Holy shit, what have you got there?" Matt tells me "I've got a present for you." "A present for me? Nice!" "Yeah, this is the white board you asked for" Matt tells me beaming. I laugh incredulously "That's awesome - I didn't know I was putting in a formal request! Thanks, man!"
My manager, Matt, and me spend a few minutes unboxing and assembling the whiteboard. I am excited. I love that we have a board to draw out design discussions now.
Paul is very accommodating to my questions the first few days: answering my questions about the codebase, engineering culture, company history (back a year, which is how long he's worked at this shop), codebase history and context.
By the 4th and 5th days Paul's anxious to ask my opinion on code implementations he's working on, and on architectural design decisions he's proposing to the organization next week. Matt (and maybe Paul) will be presenting this proposal in some large engineering meetings next week. I ask Matt to add me to the meetings: "I would love to be a fly on the wall. It will give me a lot of context for what is happening."
Paul is asking me about how to handle moving configurations out of the global scope and move towards modularization, given the complex needs of the codebase. Certain Partner's code needs to be able to override functionality, and it has traditionally been done by reassigning properties on a global object. Paul has come up with a proof of concept and messages me with a link to it Thursday evening. I spend a few hours thinking about it and writing up a large response to it (with praise, critique, and recommendations).
I am worried because I don't know this team, I don't know the codebase, and here they're asking me for design input on my fourth day. I was brought in with a Lead title and I almost feel like I'm being tested. The imposter syndrome is real. I also don't want to make strong recommendations without having a thorough understanding of all of their use cases and of who they are as a team/culture. I absolutely believe the right solution is different based on many factors.
Friday morning me and Paul spend an hour discussing the problem, Paul's PoC, and my comments. Dude really likes some of my suggestions and ideas (as I liked some of his instincts on strategy). We are starting to build a rapport and I'm feeling more like he's eager to utilize my knowledge and experience than he's trying to test me.
I also pull time with Taylor so she can introduce me to some of our janky internal tools: PikMonitor and DevRunner. Everything in tech has stupid names.
A summary of my first week:
* Orientation meetings, 1-2 a day for most of the days.
* Start to know the team in Chicago: Paul (Sr. Engineer), Taylor (Apprentice), Sammy (Apprentice), Andrew (Product Manager).
* Start to learn the team's process and culture.
* Attended standup with all of the team's developers and QEs, many of whom are in Pennsylvania. It will take me some time to get to know them all.
* I am already scheduled to conduct interviews on Monday. This shop is BUSY. There is a LOT to do.
---
For the last week I've been going to bed early (between 8:30 and 10:00, going to bed at 11:00 on Thursday because Paul's stupid PoC had me up thinking about the problem and drafting a response). I've also been waking up earlier (between 4:30am and 5:30am) to ensure I have enough time to exercise and make a smoothie before heading out to the office.
This is unnatural for me. My natural rhythms make me more productive as a night owl. But I want to see if I can sustain this. I am also doing my best to try to maintain a healthier work/life balance this time around. There will always be work to do, I have to learn to disengage.
My diet has been getting better as well. Fruit, homemade pesto, grain (pasta and bread), olive oil mostly these past couple weeks. I eat out a lot less now (1-2 times a week). Something else I hope to sustain. Not so much for vanity as I need to be at peak operational efficiency going into the second half of my 30s.
I've kept up my weekly conversations with Paul as well.
I feel good most mornings. It's a lot to deal with but I'm handling it. I'm older, more experienced, and my brain is less intense lately.
I've built up a strong reputation and promising career. I dunno what Matt has told the team at ShopRunner about me, but everyone has been friendly so far and seem to be giving me clout right out of the gate. Clout is something I'm used to earning so it feels uncomfortable to have it with a group of strangers. Ex-colleagues still stay in touch and come to me for advice.
My body is still strong. I love exercise and I hope I don't abandon it again. I very much like feeling good when I leave the house for work.
My landlady likes me a lot, is keeping rent very competitive for the area, and is installing a washer/dryer unit in here next week.
Oh, and this shop is paying me very fucking well. According to the internet I'm in the 94th/95th percentile of wage earners. To quote my favorite comedian: "I'm rich, bitch!"