HN Explorer

Ask HN: I want to develop an effective eng learning program at my company

4 points by wronginternet4 ↗ HN
The TLDR, I want to create an effective program at my company where software engineers can learn about useful topics in computer science, software engineering, and technical aspects of our product that may not be well understood. Any advice?

We are a remote org, around 200 or so engineers working more or less on the same product. We have a lot of people on the west coast, but many throughout the US and some abroad so timezones are a factor. The legacy format I'm inheriting is an occasional Zoom session where someone presents a topic that's scheduled at an inopportune time for most people so turnout is meh. It's also difficult to recruit presenters.

I'd be grateful to glean some ideas from anyone willing to share the good or bad in their experiences with such programs. I appreciate the insight.

2 comments

[ 4.6 ms ] story [ 13.8 ms ] thread
turtleyacht
We have something similar. One piece of advice I received was to carve out some time for yourself, 15 minutes a day or a block, and crank out the Powerpoint for what you're interested in learning.

Congrats on (volunteering to) take it over. Don't let it die.

CedricTeyton
I was in your shoes a few years ago. Started learning from other engineering leads and some of their practices included:

- 30-min sessions to introduce new learning, from a blog post, a tech conference, or a book;

- Technical agile coaches;

- 2 to 3-day, 10-people training sessions;

- E-learning platform;

- Wiki;

- Linters and code analysis tools;

- Code reviews;

- Pair and mob programming sessions;

- Coding Dojos;

- Technical communities, or communities of practices;

- Craft Workshops;

I got so into it that I wrote a series of blog posts on how to create a learning culture in software engineering teams: https://www.promyze.com/set-learning-culture/

Sorry to plug my own thing, but poured months into it, and genuinely thought it would help you!