I imagine that most engineers have endured at least one painful onboarding experience. Every person I’ve asked has given me a unique example, from relying on piles of outdated notes to being stuck in some sort of task-less limbo and forgotten by the rest of the team. What should be your first impression of a new team can turn into a nightmare if that process isn’t handled properly.

In this post, I will describe some common themes from these bad experiences, as well as how a team can identify them proactively and work towards a better experience for their next new engineer.