Onboarding Helper Skill

Generate comprehensive onboarding documentation and guides for new developers joining your team or project.

Instructions

You are an onboarding and developer experience expert. When invoked:

1. Assess Onboarding Needs:

   • Project complexity and technology stack
   • Team size and structure
   • Development workflow and processes
   • Domain knowledge requirements
   • Common onboarding challenges

2. Create Onboarding Materials:

   • Welcome documentation
   • Development environment setup guides
   • Codebase architecture overview
   • First-task tutorials
   • Team processes and conventions

3. Organize Learning Path:

   • Day 1, Week 1, Month 1 goals
   • Progressive complexity
   • Hands-on exercises
   • Checkpoint milestones
   • Resources and references

4. Document Team Culture:

   • Communication channels
   • Meeting schedules
   • Code review practices
   • Decision-making processes
   • Team values and norms

5. Enable Self-Service:

   • FAQ sections
   • Troubleshooting guides
   • Links to resources
   • Who to ask for what
   • Common gotchas

Onboarding Documentation Structure

Complete Onboarding Guide Template

# Welcome to [Project Name]! 👋

Welcome! We're excited to have you on the team. This guide will help you get up to speed quickly and smoothly.

## Table of Contents
1. [Overview](#overview)
2. [Day 1: Getting Started](#day-1-getting-started)
3. [Week 1: Core Concepts](#week-1-core-concepts)
4. [Month 1: Making Impact](#month-1-making-impact)
5. [Team & Processes](#team--processes)
6. [Resources](#resources)
7. [FAQ](#faq)

---

## Overview

### What We're Building
We're building a modern e-commerce platform that helps small businesses sell online. Our platform handles:
- Product catalog management
- Shopping cart and checkout
- Payment processing (Stripe integration)
- Order fulfillment and tracking
- Customer relationship management

**Our Mission**: Make e-commerce accessible to businesses of all sizes.

**Our Users**: Small to medium business owners with 10-1000 products.

### Technology Stack

**Frontend**:
- React 18 with TypeScript
- Redux Toolkit for state management
- Material-UI component library
- React Query for API calls
- Vite for build tooling

**Backend**:
- Node.js with Express
- PostgreSQL database
- Redis for caching
- Stripe for payments
- AWS S3 for file storage

**Infrastructure**:
- Docker for local development
- Kubernetes for production
- GitHub Actions for CI/CD
- AWS (EC2, RDS, S3, CloudFront)
- DataDog for monitoring

### Project Statistics
- **Started**: January 2023
- **Team Size**: 12 engineers (4 frontend, 5 backend, 3 full-stack)
- **Codebase**: ~150K lines of code
- **Active Users**: 5,000+ businesses
- **Monthly Transactions**: $2M+

---

## Day 1: Getting Started

### Your First Day Checklist

- [ ] Complete HR onboarding
- [ ] Get added to communication channels
- [ ] Set up development environment
- [ ] Clone the repository
- [ ] Run the application locally
- [ ] Deploy to your personal dev environment
- [ ] Introduce yourself to the team
- [ ] Schedule 1:1s with your manager and buddy

### Access & Accounts

**Required Accounts**:
1. **GitHub** - Source code ([github.com/company/project](https://github.com))
   - Request access from @engineering-manager
2. **Slack** - Team communication
   - Channels: #engineering, #frontend, #backend, #general
3. **Jira** - Project management ([company.atlassian.net](https://company.atlassian.net))
4. **Figma** - Design files
5. **AWS Console** - Production access (read-only initially)
6. **DataDog** - Monitoring and logs

**Development Tools**:
- Docker Desktop
- Node.js 18+ (use nvm)
- PostgreSQL client (psql or pgAdmin)
- Postman or Insomnia (API testing)
- VS Code (recommended, see extensions below)

### Environment Setup

#### 1. Install Prerequisites

**macOS**:
```bash
# Install Homebrew
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install Node.js via nvm
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash
nvm install 18
nvm use 18

# Install Docker Desktop
brew install --cask docker

# Install PostgreSQL client
brew install postgresql@14

Windows:

# Install using Chocolatey
choco install nodejs-lts docker-desktop postgresql14

2. Clone Repository

# Clone the repo
git clone git@github.com:company/ecommerce-platform.git
cd ecommerce-platform

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Copy environment variables
cp .env.example .env.local

3. Configure Environment Variables

Edit .env.local:

# Database (local Docker)
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://postgres:password@localhost:5432/ecommerce_dev

# Redis
REDIS_URL=redis://localhost:6379

# Stripe (use test keys)
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_... # Get from @backend-lead
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_test_...

# AWS S3 (dev bucket)
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=... # Get from @devops
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...
AWS_S3_BUCKET=ecommerce-dev-uploads

# Session
SESSION_SECRET=your-random-secret-here

Where to get credentials:

• Stripe test keys: 1Password vault "Development Secrets"
• AWS credentials: Request from @devops in #engineering
• Session secret: Generate with openssl rand -base64 32

4. Start Development Environment

# Start Docker services (PostgreSQL, Redis)
docker-compose up -d

# Run database migrations
npm run db:migrate

# Seed database with sample data
npm run db:seed

# Start development server
npm run dev

Expected output:

✔ Database migrated successfully
✔ Seeded 100 products, 50 users
✔ Server running on http://localhost:3000
✔ API available at http://localhost:3000/api

5. Verify Installation

Open your browser to http://localhost:3000

You should see the application home page with sample products.

Test credentials:

• Email: test@example.com
• Password: password123

Troubleshooting:

• Port 3000 in use: Kill the process with lsof -ti:3000 | xargs kill -9
• Database connection failed: Check Docker is running with docker ps
• Module not found: Delete node_modules and run npm install again

See Troubleshooting Guide for more help.

VS Code Setup

Recommended Extensions:

{
  "recommendations": [
    "dbaeumer.vscode-eslint",
    "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
    "bradlc.vscode-tailwindcss",
    "ms-azuretools.vscode-docker",
    "eamodio.gitlens",
    "orta.vscode-jest",
    "prisma.prisma"
  ]
}

Settings (.vscode/settings.json):

{
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "editor.defaultFormatter": "esbenp.prettier-vscode",
  "editor.codeActionsOnSave": {
    "source.fixAll.eslint": true
  },
  "typescript.tsdk": "node_modules/typescript/lib"
}

Your First Commit

Let's make a simple change to verify your setup:

1. Create a branch:

   git checkout -b test/your-name-setup
   

2. Add your name to the team page: Edit src/pages/About.tsx:

   const teamMembers = [
     // ... existing members
     { name: 'Your Name', role: 'Software Engineer', joinedDate: '2024-01-15' }
   ];
   

3. Test your change:

   npm run test
   npm run lint
   

4. Commit and push:

   git add .
   git commit -m "docs: Add [Your Name] to team page"
   git push origin test/your-name-setup
   

5. Create a PR:

   • Go to GitHub
   • Click "Compare & pull request"
   • Fill out the PR template
   • Request review from your buddy

Congrats on your first contribution! 🎉

End of Day 1

You should now have:

• ✅ Development environment running locally
• ✅ Application accessible in your browser
• ✅ First PR created
• ✅ Access to all team tools and channels

Questions? Ask in #engineering or DM your buddy!

Week 1: Core Concepts

Project Architecture

High-Level Architecture

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│   Brows