You have a lot more control over your job onboarding experience than you might think. While HR has a well-established procedure for integrating new hires into the company, your skills and experience give you the ability to quickly secure early wins and create alliances within the organization.

“The onboarding process actually provides a unique opportunity to set the tone for your new role and advocate for yourself,” advised David Ziemann, senior director of Software Engineering at GlobalVetLink and founder of MoreThanCoders.

Here’s how to set yourself up for professional success during the onboarding process.

Understand the Expectations and Timeline

By the end of the first day, you should know what projects you will be working on, whether you will be paired with a senior team member, and what you should accomplish and when.

Some companies frontload the learning activities and tasks for new developers and engineers, which can be overwhelming, explained Dr. Christie McMullen, CEO and chief people development officer of AIM: Analyze Improve Move.

If you find yourself in that situation, try to clarify your priorities and focus on learning the tools, technologies, processes and methodologies to execute your duties for the first six months.

The key to success during onboarding is to balance directed learning with feedback, Ziemann said. So, seize the opportunity to establish an effective feedback loop with your manager and make sure you understand what success looks like so you can align your actions with the goals.

Integrate Yourself Into the Team

Connecting with your colleagues right off the bat is a great way to show a willingness and intention to engage with the team and the company, noted Yiannis Gavrielides, founder and CEO of Covve and host of the Wired to Socialize podcast.

Employees who are able to cultivate workplace relationships are more likely to collaborate effectively and be valuable in the workplace, allowing them to climb the career ladder faster, Gavrielides added.

Consider taking notes to help you remember their interests, hobbies, perspectives and backgrounds. Also, participate in knowledge sharing and collaboration on team wikis, Slack channels, and by attending lunch-and-learns and team-building events.

Be sure to ask about the metrics and KPIs that are used to measure the productivity and performance of the team, as well as any feedback loops or working agreements that describe how the team will work together.

By the way, if you’re not assigned an onboarding buddy or coach, ask if you can mentor under a senior team member so you don’t have to keep bothering your boss with basic questions.

Understand the Bigger Picture

Before you start working on defects or enhancements, it's important to understand the problem you are trying to solve. Always ask about the products your team provides, their main features, and how they generate value for end users, customers and the company’s top and bottom lines.

Having this foundational knowledge will help you understand the business context for requirements and consider an end user’s pain points and their experience when creating code or solutions.

Take a Deep Dive Into the Codebase

Take a deep dive into the codebase and read the documentation to understand the characteristics, strengths and weaknesses of the architecture structure. Ask inquisitive but thoughtful questions as you explore the codebase, Ziemann advised. For instance, ask why the code (and documentation) are written a certain way.

That way, you won’t come off as critical or inflexible, but rather as someone who is trying to understand the reasoning behind specific decisions in the codebase and the purpose, functionality, and architecture of the software so you can be more effective in your role.

‘Time Box’ Your Work

As a new developer or software engineer, the last thing you want to do is spend days writing code that doesn’t solve the problem.

It’s a good idea to ask for feedback from your manager or mentor before you get too far down the path to a solution. If you don’t, you could end up wasting time on a problem that the team has already encountered and solved. Proactively asking for feedback is viewed as positive and not a sign of weakness.

If you do encounter an issue or get stuck on something (such as setting up your development environment) and need to ask for help, do so in a collaborative way. Don't just ask for general help. Instead, be specific about where you’ve gotten to and what you’ve done to try to resolve the problem on your own.

“Show your work,” Ziemann said. This kind of specificity gives your manager or mentor context and a starting point for offering suggestions. It also shows your competence and problem-solving skills as well as your desire to learn and become self-sufficient over time.