/dev/weblog

I am currently in a position where I am the sole individual on a in-house project.  This project is used for new employees to work on until they are moved to their permanent position.  Being the sole individual on the project I am responsible for the new employees from anywhere to a week to a month (hence short timers).

I have never managed people and I guess I technically still have not.  I think I am more of a technical lead.  I am responsible for introducing them to the project and getting as much out of the individuals as possible.  There are many hurdles you have to jump:

• Most incoming developers are Java based and don’t have any C# or .NET MVC experience.
• Have you understand what the project is very quickly.
• Must adjust to new development environment (Repository,  IDE, Issue Tracker, etc).
• Communication.  All short timers are based in a satellite office about 90 minutes from the corporate office.

Now that I am done complaining maybe I can give some hints to help “manage” the situation.

• Communicate – First week twice a day, second week once a day, and after the second week talk as needed.  You should also be available as much as possible especially in the first 2 weeks.
• Start small – Start with easy tasks.  Even the ones with 20 years experience need time to adjust to a new setting and development style.
• Document -  Make sure you know what they are doing and how they did it.  This is especially needed if they don’t finish that new feature and your stuck with code you don’t understand.  This goes for in code documentation, issue tracker notes, and wiki documentation.
• Freedom – Developers need it and flourish in it.

There is more to learning a new programming language then going over a few tutorials on how to build a blog.

I have been using Ruby.On.Rails on the side for about 2 years and after giving a short talk about Ruby I realized I didn’t really know Ruby or Rails.  I had a vague understanding of Rails and MVC and Ruby was just another language to write if statements with.

I know the general syntax and concepts to do the basic stuff in Java, Ruby, C#, and a few other languages but I don’t think I have an advanced knowledge of any.  To make excuses I think it is because when ever I need to learn a new language it is on a time restraint and I don’t seem to have the time to do the grunt work that is needed to “learn” the language.

Time needs to be spent to go through examples, read multiple books, and dive into the parts of the language that are unique to itself.  By making the time you will gain a much better understanding and mastery that will allow you to build more effectively and efficiently.

I need to take that next step to become a better developer.