Tandem 2.0

# Onboarding Checklist

Hi there! We're very glad you're working with us. Tandem strives to make the world better by creating simple solutions to BIG, complex problems.

In order to begin getting yourself oriented within this elite cadre of problem solvers, here's what you'll need to do...

# 1. Read Guides and Security Training

The "Handbook" and "Guides" sections of this documentation is all the basics you need to know about working at Tandem. They include important information on benefits, security, and development process.

Once you've digested everything you should be able to sign your Employment Agreement, Confidentiality Agreement, and go through the Security Training Checklist.

# 2. Setup your Tandem email account

The first thing you'll want to do is get set up with your Tandem email account since this will be a dependency of subsequent steps. You will have received an email invite for this so just go ahead and follow the instructions there.

PRO TIP

Your Tandem email account will also come with lando.dev and devwithlando.io aliases

# 3. Explore the Google Apps

Log in to your new Tandem email account and take a second to explore the studio space (opens new window) that is Google Apps. Beyond email you should get familiar with the calendar (opens new window) and drive (opens new window).

The calendar will have all of your and company-wide meetings. You can also add other people's calendars to have visibility into their schedule. All scheduled events and meetings come with Google Meet (opens new window) links. This is our default video conferencing tool unless otherwise specified in the event.

The drive contains various company, HR and client materials.

# 4. Get added to Tandem services

You should have invites in your new email inbox for the below applicable services. If you do not have invites for the various things then ping someone!

If you do not already have a GitHub account make sure you create one first (opens new window).

# Optional (for now)

If you are a developer you may also want to set up accounts with your Tandem email for the following services:

If you don't do it now you will likely do it later when it inevitably comes up in project work.

# 5. Get the tools you need

You're here so you've got the talent but now you need the tools (opens new window).

Tandem standardizes its process around a few core tools. This provides predictability and consistency between developers and projects. Note that given your role at Tandem not all of these tools may be neccessary.

# A Good Computer

We are only as good as our tools and Tandem is only as good as its people. This means that having a powerful and reliable machine is good not only for you but for the organization as a whole.

Tandem is primarily a macOS based shop. While you can still write the codes with Windows (no) and Linux, these boxes are currently unsupported and YMMV (opens new window). We recommend you have a macOS based machine that feels fast.

If you are a Tandem employee or contractor we offer a tech stipend that can be used to purchase a new machine.

# Git

Every Tandem project uses git (opens new window) for version control (opens new window). This provides easy collaboration between developers, interfaces well with GitHub (opens new window) and keeps a nice record of who has done what. If you are unfamiliar with git we recommend Pro Git (opens new window) as a reference.

If you are unsure whether git is installed on your system please click here (opens new window).

For other helpful git commands we recommend the our git training (opens new window) presentation.

# ZenHub

Tandem uses agile (opens new window) as its development philosophy. Specifically we do regular stand ups (opens new window) and utilize a kanban board (opens new window) to track story points (opens new window) and project burndown (opens new window). This provides a way to:

  • Create project issues and milestones
  • Determine the status of particular issues and milestones
  • Assign issues to particular developers
  • Communicate between developers, project managers and relevant stakeholders
  • See which developers are working on which issues
  • Track the progress of a current sprint (opens new window)

ZenHub (opens new window) provides these tools to GitHub. You will want to install the browser extension (opens new window) from the ZenHub site. Once you do so you should see Board (opens new window) and Reports (opens new window) tabs on GitHub.

# Lando

Tandem uses (and is the creator and maintainer of) Lando (opens new window) for local development and DevOps. Lando eliminates the need for managing your own, or multiple versions of, common software packages like php, nodejs, apache or memcache and can also:

  • Easily mimic your production environment locally.
  • Standardize your teams dev environments and tooling on OSX, Windows and Linux.
  • Integrate with hosting providers like Pantheon
  • Store all of the above in a version controlled config file called .lando.yml
  • Easily customize or extend tooling, deployment options and basically any other functionality.
  • Free yourself from the tyranny of inferior local development products.

PRO TIP

Use Hyperdrive (opens new window) to get spun up with all the things you need quickly!

All project repositories at Tandem should contain a .lando.yml (opens new window) that does the above.

After installing Lando (opens new window) we highly recommend doing a pass on the Lando documentation (opens new window).

# Lando Tandem Plugin

Plugins (opens new window) are a way to extend Lando's functionallity. The lando-tandem plugin allows us to quickly spin up extant Tandem projects and start new projects from known start states.

You can install the lando-tandem plugin with this one-liner:

curl -H 'Accept: application/vnd.github.v3.raw' -o /tmp/get-plugin.sh https://api.github.com/repos/thinktandem/lando-tandem/contents/scripts/get-plugin.sh && \
chmod +x /tmp/get-plugin.sh && \
/tmp/get-plugin.sh

For more details on the lando-tandem plugin visit the repo: Lando Tandem Plugin (opens new window).

# Text Editor

A generic text editor that is geared towards writing code is also a good idea. Tandem recommends using one of the following:

← Security Training Checklist →