Why Some Technology Hires Take Months to Become Productive and How Companies Can Reduce the Gap

You’ve hired an amazing Software Engineer, Senior Data Architect or Cloud Specialist. They have an amazing resume and did brilliantly in all your interviews. You’re all excited to get them started.

However, after a few weeks (or months), 90 days down the line your new hire is still struggling to get started. They’re asking basic questions about system access, struggling to understand your codebase or getting stuck on standard approvals. They’re stuck in productivity quicksand! 

This is a common issue for Tech teams. Many companies have large budgets to spend on hiring but often it takes between 3-6 months for them to contribute any real value.

Let’s explore why this happens and what companies can do to help.

Why Tech Hires Take So Long To Get Productive

While coding and managing systems will generally be straightforward tasks for a new Developer or Engineer joining your team, navigating the complex tech ecosystem can be tricky.

The main reasons for this include:

Complex legacy systems with poor documentation

Most companies don’t have perfect clean code. They will have many layers of their tech stack, plus bespoke tools, quick fixes and old software.

If there is little or no up to date documentation, your new engineer will have to do some detective work to figure out how everything works. They’ll struggle to make simple changes without causing issues further along the chain.

Slow access to tools

While this may seem simple, it can be one of the biggest issues affecting productivity.

Your new hire could end up waiting for two weeks for:

• Access to repositories
• Access to cloud environment keys
• Access to security tokens and API keys
• Approvals from your IT security/compliance team

If it takes 3 support tickets and a manager’s approval to get access to 1 server, they’re going to lose momentum.

Culture shock and lack of domain knowledge

Technology is used to achieve a business objective.

Whilst your new developer might know Java or Python well, if they don’t have an understanding of your business rules, compliance needs or customer workflows they won’t be able to create the correct solutions. It takes time for them to learn the domain and if nobody takes ownership of helping them understand how the business actually makes money, this can be an issue.

Poor onboarding

Many engineering teams leave it to HR to onboard new hires. They provide them with a welcome pack and set up their laptop.

Without a proper onboarding plan in place, your new hires will be left to figure things out for themselves. As they don’t want to bother busy senior members of staff, they won’t ask questions and this will result in lost days.

Hiring based on buzzwords

Sometimes it can start from the point of hiring. Often companies will hire based on buzzwords from a candidate’s resume. If the role requires them to work with others daily or deal with messy systems, they might struggle.

How Companies Can Help Reduce Productivity Gaps

To reduce the ramp up time from months to weeks you need to ensure you have clear processes in place, good preparation and the right hiring strategy.

Set up access in advance

Ensure your new hire doesn’t have to create support tickets in their first week.

Work with your IT and Security team to ensure they have standard access profiles set up based on their role. When they log in on their first day their email, code repositories, internal communications and development environments should be all set up and ready.

Use a Buddy System

Every new hire should have a buddy assigned. This isn’t a manager but a peer who can help them with quick questions such as “what slack channel do we use for deployment?” or “who has control of the permissions for this database?”. This means they don’t feel silly asking small questions and will save you time.

Assign a small task in their first week

Don’t have them reading through documentation for 2 weeks. People learn by doing.

Give them a small task to complete in their first week. This could be fixing a small bug, updating an internal tool or writing a small test script. Getting them to push code into production early on will give them confidence, ensure their setup is working and they understand the deployment pipeline.

Keep technical documentation clear and up to date

Invest time into creating a knowledge base. Your documentation should include:

• System architecture diagrams
• Guides on setting up their development environment
• Coding standards and testing frameworks
• Standard troubleshooting steps

Having accurate documentation means your new engineers can troubleshoot issues themselves.

Partner with specialist IT Recruitment Services

One of the best ways to reduce productivity gaps is to hire the right people. General recruitment agencies often hire based on keywords and don’t really understand the tech. Working with professional IT Recruitment Services will ensure they are screened properly. Specialist recruiters will test their real technical skills, problem solving and ensure they are a good fit for your environment. Hiring candidates with the right skillset will mean they have a much shorter learning curve.

Benefits Of Shortening Onboarding Times

Shortening the onboarding time for tech hires will benefit your whole organisation.

• Reduce costs of hiring – Less downtime means you get quicker ROI on your recruitment.
• Increase retention – New hires are more likely to stay if they feel supported and can contribute.
• Less pressure on senior staff – With a clear onboarding process, senior engineers can focus on delivering core products.
• Faster time to market – Efficient integration means your roadmap will be on track.

Speed Up Your Tech Hiring With AIQU

Are you struggling to find the right tech talent? At AIQU we specialise in connecting you with top technology professionals. Whether you need permanent staff, flexible contract staff or specialised IT staff, our in-depth domain knowledge will ensure you get expert candidates who are ready to deliver.

Ready to get a high performing tech team? Contact AIQU today to find out how our tailored IT recruitment can help speed up your growth.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How long should it take for a tech hire to become productive?

Whilst they should be able to contribute to small tasks within 1-2 weeks, it will typically take between 30-60 days for them to become fully productive. This is assuming they have a good onboarding process in place.

2. What is the main reason engineers struggle to get productive?

The main reason engineers struggle to get productive is due to no access being set up and poor technical documentation. They won’t be able to get started if they don’t have access to their tools and don’t understand the system architecture.

3. How does having a buddy for developers help them become productive?

Having a buddy means they have a go to person for everyday questions. This means they won’t have to wait for their manager to check in and will get up to speed with the team much faster.

4. Can outsourcing or contract hiring help reduce productivity gaps? 

Yes! Often pre-screened contractors or specialised tech professionals will have specific skills to get them up to speed quickly. They won’t need as much training on specific tech stacks.

5. How do specialist IT Recruitment Services help reduce onboarding times?

Specialist IT Recruitment Services will thoroughly screen a candidate to ensure they have the right level of technical knowledge, experience and culture fit. Hiring someone with the right skills to match your tech stack will mean less training is required.