From time to time I’m asked how I approach getting started in a new area - a new job or a new role. I’m told I do this well. Notes I find myself sharing:

  • A short piece on onboarding I wrote about my first 6 months at Datadog.
    • This was quickly typed out as a response to a question on RLS; it’s a bit stream-of-consciousness but interesting.
    • The summary video and notes on Watkins’ The First 90 Days linked here are particularly useful I think.
  • When moving to my current role in late 2022 - which is larger than the one I started in - I took similar approaches, in particular the ongoing list of “hypotheses/questions” to guide early conversations.
    • I also collected notes on “hopes” - a common question I have when meeting folks in a new area is what they’re hoping for (or worried about) as a new senior person steps into the space.
    • I find at some point I’ve built up enough context and stop updating these lists; usually after 2 months or so in the new space.
    • Compare The Blue Tape List.
  • An alignment exercise I use is to outline my job description from time to time and share it, in various formats.
    • This might not land well in every environment, but has worked well for me.
    • Note that there’s a section on this in the Staff Engineer’s Path which is worth owning if you don’t have it already.
  • Starting a new job as a Staff+ from Amy Unger is very well framed and full of good ideas.