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Ask HN: When senior developer joins new team, what are mistakes to avoid

4 points by mohanmca ↗ HN
I am in need of help to find list of mistakes to avoid and if possible few guidelines to follow while joining a new team as a senior developer.

Below is my draft list

* Be patient and listen, listen and listen without any judgment. There is no better friend than active listening. * No one likes a know-it-all - Be honest, confident and humble * You will still do something embarrassing. And you will survive. You can't improve if you are worried about your mistakes. Don't worry about it! * Observe what everyone is doing. Ask questions. * Be comfortable asking others for help or referencing documentation, Try not-to-figure-out-yourself unless that is expected * Follow Before You Lead, * Be tolerant of practices that are foreign to your established approach. * Mastering established team practices and rituals builds trust. * Automating an existing process is likely to be better received than making an independent decision to replace an existing tool. * Spend some of your personal time masterings and enhancing tools the team uses. * Ensure your output is reviewed by an existing employee before it is rolled out.

2 comments

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guessmyname
You have to add an extra new-line after each list item to add a line break.

HackerNews doesn’t implements Markdown, only a handful of formatting options [1].

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc

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Here’s the same list (reformatted):

• Be patient and listen, listen and listen without any judgment. There is no better friend than active listening.

• No one likes a know-it-all - Be honest, confident and humble

• You will still do something embarrassing. And you will survive. You can't improve if you are worried about your mistakes. Don't worry about it!

• Observe what everyone is doing. Ask questions.

• Be comfortable asking others for help or referencing documentation, Try not-to-figure-out-yourself unless that is expected

• Follow Before You Lead,

• Be tolerant of practices that are foreign to your established approach.

• Mastering established team practices and rituals builds trust.

• Automating an existing process is likely to be better received than making an independent decision to replace an existing tool.

• Spend some of your personal time masterings and enhancing tools the team uses.

• Ensure your output is reviewed by an existing employee before it is rolled out.

rendall
These are all good. And, you will make mistakes, no matter how long a list you have.

Try to get a clear grasp of what is expected of you in your role.