AppTech Systems

30-Day New Employee Orientation & Technical Alignment

Transform into a disciplined, self-sufficient contributor

Pre-Recruitment & Candidate Qualification

Building the candidate pipeline and ensuring alignment before hiring

1

Job Description Release

Key Components:

Role Overview
• Position title & level
• Team & reporting structure
• Location & work arrangement
• Compensation range
Requirements
• Technical skills matrix
• Experience level (years)
• Nice-to-haves
• Education/certifications
Responsibilities
• Core duties (5-7 bullets)
• Project involvement
• Mentorship opportunities
• Growth path
Why AppTech?
• Company mission
• Tech stack & innovation
• Culture highlights
• Benefits overview
2

Candidate Qualification & Screening

Stage 1: Resume Screening

✓ Years of relevant experience
✓ Tech stack alignment (C#, .NET, Angular, SQL)
✓ Project complexity & scale experience
✓ Education & certifications
✓ Red flags (gaps, irrelevant roles)

Stage 2: Initial Phone Screen (30 min)

✓ Communication skills & clarity
✓ Motivation & career goals
✓ Company culture fit assessment
✓ Salary expectations alignment
✓ Availability & timeline
Decision: Proceed to technical screen?

Stage 3: Technical Assessment (Take-home)

✓ Timed coding challenge (2-4 hours)
✓ Problem-solving approach
✓ Code quality & testing practices
✓ Evaluation: meets minimum threshold?
✓ Review meeting with tech lead
3

Interview Loop

Technical Interview (60 min)

Backend-Specific:
• EF Core query optimization
• Database design & schema
• Multi-tenancy architecture
• Testing strategies

Frontend-Specific:
• Angular component architecture
• State management patterns
• Performance optimization
• Testing (unit & E2E)

System Design (60 min)

• Design a scalable feature
• Database schema design
• API contract design
• Handling edge cases
• Tradeoffs & justification
Interviewer: Tech Lead / Senior Engineer

Behavioral & Culture (45 min)

Sample Questions:
• Walk us through a conflict (STAR method)
• How do you handle tight deadlines?
• Example of learning from failure
• How do you give/receive feedback?
• Why AppTech? What excites you?

Manager Fit (45 min)

• Career goals & mentorship needs
• Work style & collaboration
• Long-term vision at AppTech
• Questions from candidate
Interviewer: Direct Manager / Team Lead

Evaluation Rubric

Criteria Strong Hire Hire Proceed w/ Caution No Hire
Technical Skills Expert-level
All required skills
Strong in core
gaps are learnable
Some gaps
steep learning curve
Missing critical
fundamentals
Problem Solving Approaches systematically
considers tradeoffs
Logical approach
needs some guidance
Struggles to structure
jumps to solutions
Unable to solve
or explain approach
Communication Articulate, clear
asks clarifying Qs
Communicates ideas
some gaps in clarity
Difficult to understand
lacks depth in explanation
Poor communication
defensive
Culture Fit Growth mindset
collaborative, humble
Generally aligned
values learning
Some misalignment
may adapt
Values misaligned
poor team fit

Hiring Decision Criteria

✓ Strong Hire
All interviewers thumbs up
Proceed immediately
≈ Hire
Majority positive feedback
Clear onboarding plan needed
✗ Pass
Mixed or negative feedback
Debrief with hiring manager

Complete Orientation Journey

From recruitment to a fully productive, disciplined contributor

Pre-Recruitment: Building the Pipeline

Before Day 1

Job Description & Recruitment
• Job description release & positioning
• Candidate sourcing & qualification

Screening & Interviews
• Resume screening
• Phone screen
• Technical assessment
• Interview loop (Technical, System Design, Behavioral, Manager Fit)

Evaluation & Decision
• Evaluation rubric assessment
• Hiring committee decision
• Reference checks
1

Week 1: Foundation & Culture

Days 1–5 | Onboarding & Infrastructure

Day 1 Readiness
• Workstation setup & VPN access
• Welcome meeting with manager
• Mentor/buddy assignment
• Team introductions
• Slack channel orientation

Knowledge Foundation
• Company mission, vision, values
• Tech stack overview
• SDLC & process intro
• Repository walkthrough
• Documentation & knowledge base

Infrastructure Setup
• Local dev environment setup
• Build/test pipeline walkthrough
• Code review standards intro
• First PR template review
2

Week 2: Process Deep Dive

Days 6–10 | First Merged PR

First Story & PR
• Story refinement workshop
• Acceptance criteria review
• First ADR (Architecture Decision Record)
• Local development & testing
• PR submission & feedback loops

Quality Discipline
• SonarQube gates & static analysis
• Test coverage minimum (≥80%)
• Code review standards practice
• Documentation requirements
• Merge process walkthrough

Milestones
• ✓ First PR merged
• ✓ Pair programming session
• ✓ Code review participation
3

Week 3: Technical Mastery

Days 11–15 | Track-Specific Depth

Autonomous Tasks
• 2–3 independent stories
• Minimal pair programming needed
• Self-directed debugging
• Second ADR creation
• Advanced pattern implementation

Peer Leadership
• Review others' code
• Mentor perspective building
• Design discussion participation
• Technical blog/docs writing
• Knowledge sharing in standup

Milestones
• ✓ 3+ PRs merged
• ✓ 2 ADRs completed
• ✓ 3+ code reviews given
4

Week 4: Sprint Integration

Days 16–20 | Full Contributor Status

Sprint Participation
• Full sprint ceremonies (planning, standups, retro)
• 3–4 real sprint tasks
• Velocity estimation
• Deployment & production exposure
• On-call rotation intro (if applicable)

Graduation Readiness
• 30-day feedback review
• Manager 1:1 assessment
• Mentor handoff & ongoing support
• Success metrics review
• Long-term growth planning

Success Criteria
• ✓ 6+ PRs merged
• ✓ 3 ADRs completed
• ✓ Production deployment
• ✓ Team member ready

Post-Selection: Onboarding Prep

Acceptance through Day 1

Offer & Acceptance
• Offer extension & negotiation
• Background check & verification
• Signed acceptance received

Pre-Onboarding Setup (2-4 weeks before)
• People Ops: Benefits, equipment, workspace
• Engineering: Dev environment, access provisioning
• Manager/Team: Meetings, channel setup, mentor assignment

Welcome & Day 1 Readiness
• Welcome email & package
• Day 1 agenda & logistics
• Mentor briefing
• Technical environment verified

Success Metrics & Expectations

Code Quality
• Test coverage ≥80%
• SonarQube A rating
• Zero critical bugs
• Clean code review feedback
Velocity
• Completes assigned work
• Meets sprint commitments
• Minimal blockers
• Proactive problem-solving
Collaboration
• Active code reviews
• Mentors others
• Asks thoughtful questions
• Knowledge sharing
Learning
• 3 ADRs written
• Documentation created
• Architectural understanding
• Tech stack mastery

Quarterly KPIs & Growth Track

Manually assigned KPIs per team member - reviewed and adjusted each quarter

Q1 KPIs

[Assigned by Manager + Tech Lead]

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Q2 KPIs

[Assigned by Manager + Tech Lead]

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Q3 KPIs

[Assigned by Manager + Tech Lead]

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Q4 KPIs

[Assigned by Manager + Tech Lead]

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KPI Assignment & Review Process
• Assigned during onboarding conversation with manager & tech lead
• KPIs are role-specific, track-specific, and project-dependent
• Monthly 1:1s review progress; quarterly business reviews reassess & adjust
• Mix of code metrics, collaboration, learning, and business impact
• Mentorship and leadership valued equally with individual contribution

Week 1: Foundation & Culture Immersion

Days 1–5 | Objective: Local environment ready, cultural alignment achieved

1

Welcome & Organizational DNA

MORNING

CEO/CTO Strategic Brief
• Company mission & vision
• Culture shift narrative
• Team structure
• 30-day plan walkthrough

AFTERNOON

Technical Infrastructure
• Azure DevOps access
• Docker environment
• Slack channels & Google Workspace
2

SDLC Doctrine & Process Framework

Master 6 SDLC Segments:

Seg 00: Ignition
Conceptualization
Seg 01: Planning
Requirements funnel
Seg 02: Development
Velocity track
Seg 03: Quality
Gap reduction
Seg 04: DevOps
Infrastructure
Seg 05: Optimization
Knowledge loop
3

Technical Track Deep Dive

Backend Track

  • ABP Framework & DDD
  • EF Core patterns
  • Multi-tenancy model
  • Testing standards

Frontend Track

  • Angular architecture
  • Signals & RxJS
  • Component patterns
  • Bundle optimization
4-5

Culture, Knowledge Base & First Task

Day 4

Culture & Values
✓ Empowerment mindset
✓ Self-development ethos
✓ Knowledge base tour
✓ AI governance rules

Day 5

Sprint & First Task
✓ Sprint planning attend
✓ Task assignment
✓ Mentorship pairing
✓ Draft PR opened

Week 1 Checklist

✓ Azure DevOps
✓ Docker environment running
✓ SDLC acknowledgment signed
✓ Mentorship pairing complete
✓ Knowledge base explored
✓ First task assigned

Week 2: Process Deep Dive & First Merged PR

Days 6–10 | Objective: Complete first task, master PR discipline, create first ADR

Daily Progression

Day 6: Requirements Refinement & First ADR

• Story refinement session
• Task decomposition practice
• Draft ADR on key decision
• Mentor feedback received

Day 7: Code Review Culture & First PR Merge

• PR review discipline taught
• PR template completed
• First PR opened ready for review
GOAL: First PR merged by EOD

Day 8: SonarQube Quality Gates & Test Rigor

• SonarQube dashboard analysis
• Quality gate enforcement
• Unit testing best practices
• AAA pattern mastery

Day 9: Multi-Tenancy & DevOps Intro

• Multi-tenancy architecture deep dive
• Tenant scoping verification
• CI/CD pipeline walkthrough
• Docker Compose usage

Day 10: Sprint Retro & Week Wrap-Up

• Sprint retrospective participation
• Knowledge base contribution
• 1:1 with Shareef
• Mentor feedback session

The AppTech PR Template

## Linked Task
Closes AB#[task-id]

## Description
[What changed? Why?]

## Quality Gates
☐ Unit tests ≥80% coverage
☐ SonarQube quality gate passed
☐ No N+1 queries / Bundle size OK
☐ Multi-tenancy verified

## Approvals
Tech Lead: _____ ✓
Peer: _____ ✓

Week 2 Success Criteria

✓ First PR merged
✓ First ADR created
✓ SonarQube gate passed
✓ ≥80% test coverage
✓ 2-approval gate understood
✓ Retro participation

Week 3: Technical Mastery & Autonomous Contribution

Days 11–15 | Objective: Lead 2–3 tasks independently, conduct peer code reviews

Track-Specific Technical Mastery

🔧 Backend Track

Day 11 AM: Advanced EF Core
• Query optimization
• N+1 query prevention
• Index strategies
• Repository patterns

Day 11 PM: Advanced Testing
• xUnit & Moq mastery
• Test fixtures
• Edge case coverage
• ≥90% coverage goal

⚛️ Frontend Track

Day 12 AM: Advanced Angular
• Signals vs. RxJS patterns
• Smart/Dumb components
• State management
• Performance profiling

Day 12 PM: Bundle Optimization
• webpack-bundle-analyzer
• Tree shaking
• Lazy loading routes
• <500KB goal

Day 13: Peer Code Review & Mentoring

Conduct 2–3 real code reviews with constructive feedback:

✓ Clone & run code locally
✓ Read PR description & linked task
✓ Analyze code; form opinions
✓ Write 5-10 substantive comments
✓ Approve or request changes

Days 14–15: Lead 2–3 Independent Tasks

Full task ownership cycle:

Design
Create ADR
Plan architecture
Code
Write implementation
Test-driven approach
Test
Unit tests ≥80%
SonarQube pass
Review
Open PR
Merge & celebrate

Week 3 Deliverables

✓ 2–3 tasks merged
✓ 2–3 test suites (≥80%)
✓ 2–3 code reviews conducted
✓ Second ADR created
✓ SonarQube gates passed
✓ Full autonomy demonstrated

Week 4: Autonomous Contribution & Sprint Integration

Days 16–20 | Objective: Full sprint contributor, graduation preparation

Days 16–17: Full Sprint Tempo

Lead 3–4 tasks simultaneously (mimicking real sprint):

Daily Standups
• 15 min standup attendance
• Report progress & blockers
• Ask for help when stuck
Task Management
• Pick 2 tasks Day 16
• Task 1 merged by Day 17 PM
• Task 2 PR opened Day 17 PM

Day 18: Deployment & DevOps Experience

Code Merge
PR merged to
develop
Deploy Staging
Docker image to
staging environment
Smoke Tests
Verify API calls
& UI rendering

Day 19: Sprint Review & Retrospective

Sprint Review

  • Demonstrate your work
  • Show business value
  • Answer stakeholder Q&A
  • Celebrate team wins

Sprint Retrospective

  • Reflect on process
  • Identify improvements
  • Contribute to KB
  • Full participation

Day 20: Graduation & Real Sprint Integration

🎉 Welcome to AppTech Engineering!

Morning Ceremony
• Acknowledge completion
• Celebrate achievements
• Welcome from CEO
Afternoon Handoff
• 4–5 real sprint tasks assigned
• No more "learning" tasks
• Mentor still available

Personal Learning Playbook

A 1–2 page guide you create documenting:

• Key concepts mastered
• Your debugging approach
• Tools you use daily
• Resources you reference
• Mistakes & learnings
• Advice for future self
• What helped most
• How to help next hire

Week 4 Completion

✓ 3–4 real tasks completed
✓ Full sprint participation
✓ 1 deployment experienced
✓ Retrospective contribution
✓ Personal playbook created
✓ Team member status 🎉

Post-Selection & Onboarding Preparation

Preparing the selected candidate to start their journey at AppTech

1

Offer Extension & Negotiation

Offer Package

  • Salary (negotiated)
  • Sign-on bonus (if applicable)
  • Benefits overview
  • Work arrangement terms
  • Start date negotiation
  • Relocation assistance (if needed)

Timeline to Acceptance

  • Verbal offer (Day 1)
  • Written offer (Day 1-2)
  • Negotiation period (3-5 days)
  • Background check initiated
  • Signed offer received
  • Email from People Ops
2

Pre-Onboarding Setup (2-4 weeks before start)

People Operations

✓ Background check & reference checks
✓ Tax forms & compliance documents
✓ Benefits enrollment (health, 401k)
✓ Equipment order (laptop, peripherals)
✓ Workspace setup (desk, monitor)
✓ Access request to systems (Azure AD, etc.)

Engineering Preparation

✓ Assign mentor/buddy
✓ Setup development environment docs
✓ Repository access provisioned
✓ Docker environment prepared
✓ Database credentials set
✓ VS Code extensions list shared

Manager/Team Preparation

✓ Schedule 1:1 with manager
✓ Team intro email sent
✓ Slack channels pre-added
✓ Calendar holds for Week 1 meetings
✓ Mentorship pairing finalized
✓ Welcome gift purchased
3

Welcome Package & Pre-Boarding Communication

Week Before Start

Welcome Email
• Warm greeting from CEO/Hiring Manager
• Day 1 agenda
• What to bring/wear
• Parking/transit info
• First day contact person
• Brief company overview

Welcome Day Package

Physical Welcome Kit
• AppTech branded items
• Tech setup cheat sheet
• Org chart & team bios
• Snacks & coffee vouchers
• 30-day playbook (this guide!)
• Q&A guide
4

Day Before & Day 1 Readiness

Engineering Team (Day Before)

☐ Clone & test dev environment setup
☐ Verify Azure DevOps access
☐ Docker environment working
☐ Database connectivity verified
☐ Slack channels tested
☐ Welcome message drafted for channel

New Hire (Day 1 Checklist)

☐ Laptop & peripherals setup
☐ Internet & VPN access
☐ Azure AD account confirmation
☐ Google Workspace access
☐ Slack workspace joined
☐ GitHub/Azure DevOps access
☐ Mentor introduction & pairing
☐ CEO welcome meeting

Mentor/Buddy Assignment Details

Ideal Mentor Profile:

Experience
• 2+ years at AppTech
• Track record of mentoring
• Excellent code quality
• Patient & communicative
Responsibilities
• Daily check-ins (Week 1)
• Code review first PRs
• Technical guidance
• Unblock obstacles
• Celebrate wins

First Week Snapshot

Day 1
Welcome
Setup
Intro meetings
Day 2
SDLC deep dive
Tech stack intro
Day 3
Track-specific
architecture
Day 4
Culture
Knowledge base
Day 5
First task
Sprint planning

Post-Selection to Week 1 Success Factors

🎯 Clear Expectations
Candidate knows what to expect from Week 1
🤝 Assigned Mentor
Mentor ready & briefed on first week plan
💻 Tech Ready
All systems & accesses confirmed working
📚 Materials Prepared
Welcome kit & onboarding playbook ready
👋 Team Introduction
Team knows who's arriving & why
⏰ Calendar Blocked
All Day 1 meetings scheduled in advance