Successful Apprenticeships in 5 Steps
Whether you're just starting to consider bringing an apprentice onto your team, or you're a couple of months into having an apprentice, we’ll walk you through some best practices to make sure the program is a great experience for both your organization and your apprentice.
1. START STRONG
Prepare to have all access available on day one. Our brains learn best when information is delivered in packages. Make sure they have a working email, access to any needed repos or ticketing systems, a desk, an office badge, and any other materials that you would arm a new employee with.
Prepare to have all access available on day one.
2. CHALLENGE
Make the experience challenging. An apprentice has similar needs to any other new hire, but will also be looking to you to set the bar for what success looks like. Scope projects that are concrete enough and deliverable, measuring their success incrementally approaching the end of 90 days. Set measurable weekly and monthly goals that build on top of one another.
3. MENTOR
Directly identify team mentors. Introduce them to any resources that other team members use to be successful — and highlight why and when they should use those. The mentor should should have a daily touch point to ensure that weekly and monthly goals are on track. If off track, this creates a discussion point to evaluate and/or change goals.
The mentor should should have a daily touch point to ensure that weekly and monthly goals are on track.
4. COMMUNICATE
Cultivate a team that practices open communication about how they are improving their skills or iterating on their projects. This models to apprentices that growth is continuous and discussion helps developers to find the best solutions.
5. SET EXPECTATIONS
Begin the apprenticeship with precise deadlines for drafts and intermediary deliverables. Help them develop the sense of the pace you expect of them and your team. As the weeks go by, ask them to set their deadlines and give feedback if those expectations don’t align with your own.
