Prolly some orientation of sources and basic intro intro into the standard operating procedure.

Only so much can be stuffed into the first day.

Prolly some orientation of sources and basic intro intro into the standard operating procedure.

Only so much can be stuffed into the first day.

Perhaps I can answer this from a slightly different angle, as the employer (I'm a co-founder of a startup).

So, this is still a learning curve for us, as we've only really employed interns and not full time people.

So here's what we provide. NB - By this point almost all the HR/paperwork has been complete. The only outstanding documents are those that need to be handed to the new team member to have a copy of, and to also have a physically signed copy of the contract.

1. Work station + machine to work on.
2. The machine will be setup in a basic manner (wifi, email, phone, password, stupid stock software removed, add some basic programs).
3. The new person will have the freedom to install the programs they prefer on the machine.
4. Basic introduction to everyone (which doesn't usually happen, because it's just the founding team, so the new person already knows everyone - lol).
5. The new member will get shown around the office/what happens for lunch + introduced to the tradition of fish friday.
6. Once all that is done we take them through our processes - best practises/how we manage ourselves and code.
7. Then if they need training we put them on it. This can take a couple weeks, which is fine.
8. Then after this they start knocking down basic issues in gitlab - obviously depending if they need training or not for day one.

As Adam said. There's no real work done in the first day, just intros and settling in.

Some people here my disagree with not fully setting up the devs computer with exactly what they need, but I feel allowing them to choose the programs they prefer provide them with the opportunity to setup a new environment (which can be difficult if not done in a while, because we all just set it up then leave it and hope it continues to work). But I also feel it gives them an additional sense of appreciation as I care about what they want to use, instead of just telling them to use something they don't prefer.

On my first working day (ie. when all the paperwork is done, and I know a few faces I must know), I expect only a few things:

• a seat I can comfortably spend a workday
• a table on which all my equipment fits fine
• a working workstation
• access to this workstation
• access to the project(s) I will work with (even if read only yet)

If any of those is not met on my first working day raises red flags. It shocked me hard when I realised most big companies fail to do them.

1. The local dev environment to be complete. Lest, my head would explode.
2. An introduction to the work culture - scrums or no scrums, daily update mechanism and all the routine they follow, so I can be mentally prepared.

I think that covers it.

On my first day, I'd expect the following in no particular order:

• Introduction to co-workers and maybe what they're working on (high level, nothing weedy)
• Introduction to workstation
• Shown around the office (restroom, supplies, kitchen, points of interest)
• A mound of HR paperwork to fill out
• How to set up email, messaging service, phone, video calls, etc
• Lunch out with my immediate co-workers (best if employer communicates this in advance for a host of reasons)
• If time, but probably day 2: introduction to the tech stack/workflow by co-workers
• If time, but probably day 2 : access to any documentation related to first assignment presumably coming in the next few days

In my experience, the first day is usually spent getting settled in with no real work getting done. I'd expect it to be a welcoming experience with people dropping by to say hello and a bit of breathing room to settle in before the grind kicks in a few days later.