Junior specialist (or just Junior) is quite a unique person in any company. Such a person requires an unusual approach in general introduction, adaptation to business workflow, and defining expectations. Dealing with a Junior is not a trivial task — it is a challenge. And this challenge has to be accepted!

Student vs. Teacher

Every Junior that starts a new type of work requires somebody to show how to do it. Moreover, there should be a person who can check results of work (do a review), indicate mistakes, and provide overall feedback. Finally, somebody has to evaluate the whole workflow and adjust it if needed to achieve better results. Colleagues or a mentor usually perform all these activities.

Colleagues (or team members) can help a Junior with the first steps. They usually already know what kind of responsibility has a Junior, so they can advise on the best way to do that and show some examples. Colleagues may also help with integration into a workflow and explanation of its purpose. The biggest issue here is the time needed to do all that as nobody likes to spend time without getting paid for it. As a consequence, a Junior may feel lost and useless in a company of more experienced colleagues.

Mentoring is a better way to resolve this situation. A mentor is usually one of the colleagues, but at the same time, he/she has a defined responsibility to help a Junior in the beginning. A mentor should be able to answer all the questions and address all the issues. This way, Junior can always come to this person with his/her problems and solve them. And there will be no inconvenience or misunderstanding with other colleagues.

Why so serious?

One of the common mistakes that the company can do regarding Junior is to make his job boring. Junior is a newcomer in this area and still does not understand multiple things, so it is better to make them look like fun.

It is quite easy to make regular meetings less annoying. Just start introducing changes in the meeting place, communication format, and summarizing the results. Such efforts will be appreciated not only by a Junior but by the other colleagues as well.

Make communication with colleagues or a mentor (both formal and informal) more interesting. Tell a joke, make small talk, ask about the recent activities — these small things making regular activities less tedious. Do not be afraid to ask for feedback — newcomers can see things others get used to and usually willingly share their impressions.

The hardest thing to address is an everyday routine. Almost every Junior has quite a lot of such things in the very beginning, and most of them look weird or useless. Explain the purpose of these regular activities, why does he/she need them, and what is the outcome. A mentor may also tell about some funny situation that happened with somebody from his/her team when he/she performed this activity. This way, Junior can accept work not as boring stuff, but as a part of collective interaction.

A mentor may also try to invite Junior to an after-work party, bar, or any other place where he/she can relax with colleagues. It allows Junior to feel him/her a part of a team and prevent possible conflicts.

Growing and Leaving

When Junior is growing professionally, he starts dreaming about getting a better position. Unfortunately, the easiest and the fastest way to get it is to find a new job. There he/she may stop being Junior, get a promotion, get a better salary, and so on. How to deal with this situation?

The very first thing the employer should know that he can not prevent this from happening. No matter how good are conditions and team members, sooner or later, salary and position will become essential. So, unless the company promotes Junior and gives him a significantly better wage (usually higher than the average wage on the market), this person leaves the company. Let us see when to expect it and how to prepare for this event.

Junior’s motivation is the first thing that should be understood. The salary is the very first item on the list. Juniors often come to the first workplace to get the first year(s) of experience and then find a better place. Ambitions and team cooperation can be the next important thing. Junior will not be satisfied with his job unless he thinks that it is essential (or cool, or critical, or at least stands out) and appreciated by colleagues.

When to expect Junior to leave is a very individual question — it depends on the position, salary, location, and some other factors. Juniors in software engineering are remaining in this position for about one year. After that, they are changing CV, title, salary expectations, and sometimes even the location.

The very best thing the company can do is to prepare for leaving. Management may have official or unofficial agreement with Junior that he/she has to inform them about quitting in advance, usually several months earlier. A mentor can monitor the situation and adjust workflow to minimize risks and consequences when it will happen. Colleagues should be prepared to handle the responsibilities of Junior when he leaves.

In may sound a bit depressive, but changing a job is not a bad thing. Junior has to set new goals and start working on them. The company should evaluate the results and check for possible ways to optimize the workflow. The professional community receives a new experienced member. And this cycle will continue again and again because there always will be new Juniors!