Hello, I'm Tanaka, director/coder of the Coding Factory.
In this episode of "Coder's Trivia," I'd like to talk about the training system in our CF club.
Even though we are talking about "training new employees," people are always growing. Even after you are no longer considered a new employee, you have to continue honing your skills as a coder.
We would like to introduce our efforts as a group of coding professionals.
First, develop your ability to see.
Check team training
The first thing new recruits at Coding Factory (hereinafter referred to as CF) undergo is a two-week "check team training."
One of the features of CF's service is the checking system. You will be involved in the checking process and learn how to check from the user's perspective.
The pages we create are viewed by general users. Even if we understand this in our heads, we tend to forget about it, so we need to make sure we understand this perspective from the very beginning.
In addition, by checking the designed and coded pages side by side, you can get an outside look at what level of quality is required for the job as a CF coder.
The first barrier.
CF Guideline Test
After new employees complete the check training, they are assigned a training supervisor from among the senior coders.
Under the guidance of a training officer, new recruits aim to pass CF's proud guideline test.
The minimum requirement for a CF coder to work on a real project is to be able to code in accordance with the guidelines.
He studies every day using original teaching materials called "test coding," which is a set of a mock site design for practice and specifications for JS, etc., that allow students to learn by actually coding, reassembling them over and over again.
It takes 1-2 months to thoroughly study the guidelines.
This period is also an opportunity for the senior trainers to grow themselves through repeated code reviews and Q&A sessions.
Part of test coding (design). Previously, it was only available for PC, but recently there is also an RWD version.
The guideline test is divided into a practical test and a written test.
First, there is the written test. It is a fill-in-the-blank test of the CF guidelines. There are 130 questions! And you have to get all the answers right, meaning you get full marks, to pass.
Next comes the practical exam where you are given a page specification and design which you then have to code.
The practical exam is a demerit system. There are nine tasks, and the passing grade is minus 11 points.
The first criterion for scoring is the reproducibility of the design. Even a 1px shift in an image or module will result in a deduction. Next is the reproducibility of the specified specifications. Is JS etc. implemented as specified in the specifications?
And, is the coding done in accordance with the CF guidelines? It is important to follow not only the class naming rules but also the finer details such as indentation rules.
Newcomers who pass this strict standard move on to the next step.
Imagine yourself six months from now
6-Month Education Program
After passing the test, you will finally make your debut.
In fact, this is where education really begins.
From here on, we will be using the "6-month educational program" created by Coder Matsubara.
We ask new recruits about their "ideal future," and then we work backwards from there to determine what they need to achieve in six months to get there. We then determine what they need to learn and their monthly goals, write them down in a "training plan sheet," and work together with the trainer to reach the goal.
The key point of this program is that it includes a "reflection sheet" where instructors can evaluate themselves.
I can look back on that month and see whether I was able to properly engage with new recruits as a trainer.
Held once a month, Newcomer Education Committee
At the "Newcomer Education Committee" where the training staff meet once a month, they bring along the "Reflection Sheet" and "Development Plan Sheet" for the six-month program, report on the training progress, and discuss any concerns they may have about how to provide training, for about two hours.
How can we increase their motivation? What kind of projects are suitable for them? What challenges do we want them to take on? There is no end to the things to think about and discuss.
"That person has been working hard lately," "They don't seem to be in good spirits, are they okay?"
By talking together, we can pick up on small signs from new employees that we might not be able to pick up on one-on-one.
All committee members can think about all the new members, not just the people they are in charge of.
In addition, educational doubts that you tend to face on your own can be resolved by listening to other people's opinions.
Even after six months or a year.
At the end of the six-month program, you will be able to work independently as a fully-fledged coder.
However, for us web engineers, there is no line that says, "This is the end of my studies!"
We live in a world where new technologies appear every day, and topics that were hot yesterday might now be deemed "outdated."
The CF department uses " esa.io " to share their stock of technology, and has created a system where members of the team can freely ask questions at any time using a chat room dedicated to questions.
Also, all of us at CF love teaching, and more importantly, we love solving difficult problems.
Therefore, even if they are just getting up at lunchtime or are about to go home after finishing overtime, if someone calls out to them, they will stop and think together until the problem is solved. At first, it may be one person, but then one person, and then another... The more complex the problem, the larger the crowd will be.
Let's pool our wisdom for our colleagues who work hard late into the night!
Usually, there is one person who is primarily in charge of a project, but every time I see this scene, I think to myself how great it is to have a team.
We introduced CF's educational program, which begins with check team training, and the learning support system after becoming independent.
All of this is possible because we are a large team of 12 coders. I think one of the features of CF is that if you have knowledge of HTML/CSS, you can become a full-fledged coder.
Today and tomorrow, the CF coders work hard, competing with one another to improve.
We look forward to your continued support.
TANAKA Natsumi