Engineering onboarding at Bitpanda

We know just how difficult, especially in the current (remote) times, the onboarding phase in a new company can be.  So, we decided to make life easier for our new team members (aka "Pandas") by optimising our processes, including platform and tool deep dives and virtual team introductions. Read all insights on how this looks in practice and what you can expect when joining the Engineering teams at Bitpanda.

Your hardware and merch

Depending on your location, before you start you will either be invited to pick up your Bitpanda merchandise from the office or you will receive a package with everything that is necessary to get you started including your hardware. Our sustainable merchandise will get you in the right mood for your upcoming onboarding days. Your laptop is fully configured and secured by our team from the IT and Security department, so your first input is limited to entering basic data and creating passwords only.

(Virtual) Bootcamps

Our online Bootcamps are live meetings that we organise especially for our new team mates, during which you will learn the most important things regarding a specific topic. Each meeting ends with a Q&A session where you can ask any questions you may have. Bootcamps usually take place at the beginning or the middle of the month and sometimes quarterly (depending on how many new team members joined on the 1st or the 15th of the month). Each new Panda spends most of their first days in general bootcamps prepared by Pandas around the organisation.

Here are a few of the bootcamps we offer:

• General intro bootcamp - General information about who we are, what we do and why it's awesome that you are joining us
• IT and security bootcamp - About setting up your hardware and managing your software to get started
• Hibob bootcamp - All about Hibob, our people management platform for tracking your working time, managing your time-off, documentation, benefits and of course, connecting you to your team and managers
• Slack bootcamp - Do’s and don’ts using our main workplace communication tool at Bitpanda
• Agile bootcamp - The basics of the Agile Mindset, which we follow in our daily work, especially in the Engineering department
• Our products - Here, you will learn more about our broker platform, Bitpanda Pro, the Bitpanda Card, Bitpanda Stocks and more
• Confluence Bootcamp

Additionally, while working in the Engineering department, you will take part in special Bootcamps focused on technical aspects and procedures.

You will find, among others:

• Infrastructure bootcamp - this includes cloud computing, Kubernetes, monitoring, logging, CI and more.
• (Technical) introduction to our services - what services we have and how they are connected.
• Feature flag bootcamp - what are "feature flags" and why we use them with LaunchDarkly.

Meet Confluence and your Engineering Fellow

After your IT onboarding, the first message from the People team will already be in your inbox. This is an invitation to the onboarding board in “Confluence”. On our first day, we get acquainted with general information about the company's operations and the rules governing the organisation - including the "Code of Conduct'', Bitpanda values, using the Intranet and your available benefits.

One of your "tasks" to check on your first day is "Meet Your Fellow". This is a very important piece of the onboarding puzzle. A "Fellow" is a designated person from your team who will help you during the first days of onboarding and answer any questions you may have regarding the organisation or other processes occurring in your daily work.

During the first days:

• We will introduce you to your new colleagues
• You will learn about the mission and vision of Bitpanda, as well as its history
• You will learn more about our current products and projects
• You will get general information about the department structure and processes from HR and your People Manager

The way your upcoming weeks will be structured are very dependent on the team that you are joining. For example, departments like our Bitpanda Support team have an additional onboarding process to prepare you for the job.

Gitlab ✅ VPN ✅ AWS Access ✅ All Checked!

The next step is to look at a more detailed list of tasks that are more specific to each role. For example: a Frontend Developer that works with Angular will have a slightly different onboarding path prepared for them during their first days of work at Bitpanda compared to someone joining as a Software Tester. The path is related to the specifics of a given position. That is why we have created different onboarding lists in Confluence, where everything is clearly arranged according to your position at Bitpanda.

The most important thing for us is the first two weeks of onboarding. This is the period in which you will absorb complementary knowledge and learn how things work within Bitpanda. It is vital that you ask questions about whatever you do not understand. It is also the time to configure the development environment, VPNs or join your most-needed channels on Slack.

To summarise, in your first two weeks:

• You will be learning more about the roles of people in the engineering department and your team
• You will be learning about the (technical) background in the area in which you will be operating
• You will be configuring your development environment and installing  necessary tools
• You will be asking your peers a lot of questions :)
• You will start actively to work on our products and services within the organisation

Inspect and Adapt

As an agile-minded person, I need to smuggle something related to the agile mindset into this article. Bitpanda is an organisation that operates in the digital assets market, where the markets react extremely quickly, therefore we also need to act quickly and be agile.

When I joined the team in September 2020, there were about 200 employees, now (in July 2021) there are over 500 of us. That is why the whole onboarding process has evolved and continues to improve from month to month. Checklists have been changed many times, some bootcamps have been shortened, others have been extended and a few more have been added. There is always room for improvement and this is what we do together with our new joiners. We ask them what they liked and what we can do better to improve the overall process.

Next steps...

If you've read up to this point, you have either just applied for an open position at Bitpanda, or you are going to apply soon. We offer many great open positions and internships, during which you will be able to develop your expertise and skills and, at the same time, help the company to improve its products. What counts at Bitpanda is knowledge and enthusiasm.

Do you want to work at Bitpanda? We are hiring and looking for great people who are ready to make an impact, right from day one. And the best part? As we continue to expand our global footprint, we’re now also hiring in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, Turkey and the UK. So check out our current open positions and apply to Bitpanda now!

See you soon!