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by icedchai 1126 days ago
Many environments are complex. At a previous startup, they had a "setup" script that configured your laptop with all the tooling, dependencies, etc. It had bugs and could bomb out in the middle. Even with all the automation, it could take a day or two to get through it.

At an earlier startup, however, we expected someone to push to prod by the end of their first day. It was stressful for new and current hires alike!

2 comments

I highly recommend a documented walkthrough rather than a scripted setup. As you note: with a scripted setup if it breaks you're left debugging it and trying to work out what on earth it has done to your machine. I think 1-2 days of setup is entirely reasonable, but it shouldn't be taking an entire week.
Pushing to prod on your first day seems…interesting.