[paggle]

Has anyone here had good luck with junior engineers working remotely? (I'm sure companies like Zapier have solved this). I've found that with senior engineers (defined not by the job title but the ability to take a coarsely defined problem like "figure out what is causing the I/O performance issues on this service and fix it") it's very easy to have them remote. Junior engineers with a senior engineer leading/managing them on-site, also fine. But I have not been able to successfully work with junior engineers who need mentoring and learning remotely.

What processes/practices/tools have people succeeded with here?

[ben_jones]

Many software companies lack formal training programs and documentation processes that juniors need to grow. They come to depend on informal training/documentation like tapping a senior on the shoulder to ask about a legacy piece of code.

The solution is to invest heavily in regimented training programs with clear KPIs (key performance indicators), better documentation, and a certain level of redundancy so that remote stakeholders can hold eachother accountable.

Obviously this isn't super attractive to C levels so they are trying to hire "Senior" developers who "don't need training". It's not working out great for them (IMO).

---

Realize how I don't mention remote once because failures by remote worker are symptoms of problems that still exist even if everyone is in the same broom closet all day.

[pts_]

If you can't read the code, you drag those who can down with you.

[pts_]

Hired folks who can read the fine manual.