For younger companies short on both resources and time, onboarding new hires is a challenge. But what's even more challenging is training junior devs fresh out of coding school who need a little extra support.
“When it comes to junior developers, the biggest thing I see companies fail to do is offer training support and processes,” said Justin Herrick, a former coding instructor and software consultant. “I’ll often see junior devs get thrown on a project with very little oversight or very little understanding of the code base. They end up spending a long time making assumptions about the code, which can be wrong.”
Herrick said he’s seen this occur most frequently at companies where someone gets promoted internally who hasn’t been trained on setting up processes or mentoring a new player — or in environments where a solid onboarding program is lacking.
To address this, Herrick, a self-taught coder in his own regard, launched training and software services under Lunar Collective.
Lunar provides remote and in-house mentoring services, remote pair programming, junior onboarding and customized apprenticeship programs for businesses that don’t have the bandwidth to offer those services on their own.
Additionally, the team builds software and offers formal code review, assessments and project recovery for those that fail behind deadline.
“We do the same things other consultancies do,” Herrick said. “If you’re a small team or startup, and you need an MVP built, we’ll do it at the highest quality out there. Our focus on junior developers and helping train and mentor them gives us a unique perspective on handing over the code.”
As the company grows, Herrick said he’d like Lunar to host training workshops and conferences — one day, for free.
“We’re focused on education and working together, rather than just focusing on language dejour,” said Herrick. “If every person leaves every engagement knowing more about the industry, then I think it improves the industry overall. Our internal goal is to educate everyone we work with openly and freely so we can keep that information flowing.”
Image provided by Lunar Collective.
Does your company have an interesting story to tell? Let us know with a tip or on Twitter @BuiltInAustin
