When people think about onboarding, they’re thinking about HR, employee handbooks, compliance, or new employee orientation. But…it’s actually more like a journey than an event.
Onboarding is a journey that has been hit or miss in my experience. Meeting new people, learning new processes, reading new documentation—the newness of it always excites me, similar to the first day of school. But there have also been some experiences where I was more confused than reassured and left with a sense of insecurity about my workplace.
I wanted to share why phData has the best onboarding experience I have ever been through, including an emphasis on their core company value of Psychological Safety.
Before Day 1
Before my first day at phData, I was given access to Gmail, Slack, and an internal Learning Management System, which had valuable assignments that helped me:
Learn more about the company, including core values
Share my bio with my coworkers
Finish housekeeping items
Uncover what was next in the onboarding process
Get to know our senior leadership team
It was valuable because most of my day 1 questions were answered here. I didn’t have to send too many emails or reach out to my hiring manager before I started.
I was also given an onboarding buddy, who emailed me. She was awesome, and I loved that she was so proactive in making sure I felt comfortable and ready for my first day.
Onboarding Week 1: Day 1
When you accept your offer from phData, you have to choose a start date from a list of potential dates. On your actual start date, you’ll be onboarded with a cohort of new hires that more or less experience the same process, minus some minor differences (which I’ll discuss later). On day 1, I started a Slack channel for my cohort, and we used this to share questions, information, and tips, which helped us get to know one another really well.
Aside from meeting my fellow new hires, I was also able to verify if I was set up correctly in Azure, Google, AWS, and the Snowflake AI Data Cloud. I set up my MFA and SSO across all of phData’s internal applications. I was shown how to log my hours and find learning resources, which are vital when you first start.
At the end of the day I was tired from all the calls, somewhat overwhelmed by all of the information, and genuinely excited to get to work. I remember chatting with my onboarding buddy, and she told me not to rush, because the pace is going to pick up later. She reminded me to “enjoy this time while you can, because it’s going to get busy once it’s over.” (Spoiler alert: she was absolutely correct.)
Onboarding Week 1: Day 2-5
The rest of the week was focused primarily on working through Bootcamp, which is a course that was assigned to me on the internal Learning Management System and took approximately 3-4 weeks to complete. There are different Bootcamp tracks depending on your specialty. I was assigned the data engineer track, but other tracks include the data science track, solutions architect track, and other specialties.
It is also self-paced and completely virtual, with most lessons having instructional videos and built-in assessments. The topics range from company culture, Snowflake best practices, dbt basics, and introductions to other modern data stack technologies.
The self-paced and flexible structure of Bootcamp allowed me to dip my toe into the water for new technologies, while giving me a safe space to learn. I also leveraged my fellow new hires for any help I needed. I cannot emphasize enough how great of a support system they were!
Aside from Bootcamp, I also had a welcome lunch with my onboarding buddy and some other Learning and Development Meetings.
Meeting Types
Below is a brief breakdown of the meetings I experienced over my first four weeks. Some of these meetings occurred once, like the welcome call, while others were recurring.
The Welcome to phData call gave us space to meet with IT, ensure we were properly set up with SSO, and have access to important sites. We also covered the company’s values, the Slack culture, and how to utilize internal documentation when we have questions.
Coffee Breaks occur weekly at phData and are a great way to meet new people and learn something interesting. Topics range from discussing cutting edge technologies, meeting senior leaders, or even exploring trivial (but important) questions like, “If you could travel anywhere in time, where would you go for a week?”
Time Tracking Training is vital since all hours must be tracked. We were given a great tour of the website and supplemental information on the internal Learning Management System.
What and How Sessions are informative sessions where new hires are introduced to various internal teams. The teams introduce themselves and present their mission, goals, and relationships with other teams in the organization and customers of phData. I loved putting faces to faces and getting insights on how my role would affect these teams.
Onboarding Buddy 1 on 1 was held my first Friday. However, my onboarding buddy and I had a very active Slack conversation as I went through my onboarding. Once again, this resource is HUGE! Having someone who works in a similar role to yours as a resource reinforces the idea of Psychological Safety at phData. She shared triumphs and lessons learned during her time at phData and was always open to sitting and alleviating any nerves I had.
Onboarding Weeks 2 - 4
Getting SnowPro Core Certified
Bootcamp took me roughly three weeks to complete. Afterward, I was free to begin my journey to becoming SnowPro Core Certified, which my manager recommended and was pretty much mandatory to get placed on my first project. I really appreciated that I could use my onboarding time to prepare for the exam.
After Bootcamp, I completed two SnowPro Core Udemy courses, took the exam, and received my bonus. I appreciate that phData mandates some certifications before we begin on projects. I learned so much about Snowflake, which has already made me a better data engineer.
Certifications and Bonuses at phData
phData gives bonuses for completing certain certifications. I am given a yearly allowance I can spend on certification tests and any education materials I might need. Additionally, if I contribute back to the community by writing thought-leadership content on the work I’m doing or my experience, I’ll also get a nice bonus for my work. This is a fantastic way to share my experience and supplement my income.
Bench Time and First Project
After I completed onboarding, I was added to the project-bench team, which includes anyone who has not yet been placed on a project. We have stand-ups a few times a week, set professional goals, and work through them—all while tracking our progress in JIRA.
Project Bench is new, but I really like that it has some structure around our time between projects. I decided to dive deeper into dbt during my first few weeks on the bench, but I was shortly placed on a project and had to set dbt to the side for now.
Conclusion
phData recognizes the value of a quality onboarding experience. They have a dedicated team responsible for improving the onboarding experience and creating new learning material based on feedback from new hires. All of this was apparent to me when I started. I can’t say enough good things about it, and if someone asked me what to expect, I would say, “Expect a lot of fun work and expect to learn a lot through Bootcamp. It’s a fun period at phData, and you’re going to love it!”.
10/10 would recommend.
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