> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://handbook.polar.sh/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Onboarding

> Your first 30 days at Polar

Welcome to your first month at Polar! This timeline helps you get up to speed and make your first contributions.

## Before You Start

### Equipment & Setup

* Receive laptop and equipment
* Set up home office (budget available)
* Install necessary software and tools
* Access to Slack, GitHub, Linear, and other tools

### Administrative

* Complete HR paperwork
* Set up benefits and payroll

## Week 1: Getting Oriented

### Goals

* Get familiar with the team and codebase
* Understand our users and product
* Make your first contributions (yes, in plural!)

### Key Activities

* **Team introductions**: Meet everyone on the team
* **Product walkthrough**: Understanding what we build and why
* **Development environment**: Get local setup working
* **First contributions**: Small bug fixes and improvements

### Expected Outcomes

* Development environment fully working
* Understanding of our product and users
* First pull request merged
* Comfortable with team communication

## Week 2: Diving Deeper

### Goals

* Understand our users more deeply
* Get comfortable with our technical stack
* Start taking on meaningful work

### Key Activities

* **User research**: Read support tickets, user interviews, feedback
* **Shadow support**: See real user problems firsthand
* **Technical deep dive**: Focus on your area of the codebase
* **Pair programming**: Work with teammates on their tasks
* **First feature**: Take on a small but meaningful feature

### Expected Outcomes

* Deep understanding of user needs and pain points
* Comfort with our technical stack and development process
* Contributing to team discussions and decisions
* First feature merged

## Week 3: Shipping Features

### Goals

* Ship more features
* Take ownership of code quality and user experience
* Contribute to team processes

### Key Activities

* **Feature completion**: Take ownership of more features and ship them.
* **Code reviews**: Both giving and receiving substantial feedback
* **User testing**: See users interact with your code
* **Process feedback**: Share observations about our development process

### Expected Outcomes

* First feature shipped to production
* Comfortable with code review process
* Understanding of how features impact users
* Contributing improvements to team processes

## Week 4: Taking Ownership

### Goals

* Take ownership of a project area
* Plan your growth trajectory

### Key Activities

* **Area ownership**: Take responsibility for a specific part of the product
* **Project planning**: Lead a larger feature or improvement
* **Knowledge sharing**: Help onboard the next new hire or share expertise
* **Process improvement**: Implement a suggestion for improving how we work

### Expected Outcomes

* Clear ownership and accountability for a feature
* Contributing to hiring and onboarding processes
* Actively improving team processes

## Continuous Improvement

We regularly update this onboarding process based on:

* Feedback from new hires
* Observations from managers and buddies
* Changes in our product and processes
* Industry best practices

Your feedback during and after onboarding helps us improve the experience for future team members.