09/16/2026
Onboarding a New CF Developer: The Checklist That Saves the First 90 Days
You finally found a CF developer. Woohoo! Now comes the hard part. The next step will decide how useful they'll be. They can hit the ground running fast. Or, they can spend three months lost in ancient CF code. If things are truly like Mordor, they'll be updating their LinkedIn profile during business hours.
A good CF developer can learn your app, sure. They can learn your app much faster if they have a map. Most old CF apps have years of business rules, server quirks, and old links to other systems. They also have quick fixes that somehow became permanent. And they have strange bits of code that made perfect sense to someone in 2014.
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Dropping a new hire into that alone is basically sending Frodo into Mordor with a Jira login. I've seen onboarding go both ways. You want to avoid the "Ask Steve" problem. This is when one CF wizard knows how everything works. Every question goes to Steve. Every odd bit of old CF code needs Steve.
That's bad for the new hire, the team, and poor Steve.
Here's a better plan.
Week one: Give them the map
1. What does this CF app do?
2. Who uses it?
3. Which parts make money, serve customers, or keep staff working?
4. Where does the data come from?
5. Which parts of the app deserve extra care?
Give the new developer a local setup that works. Make sure they can access the CF code, docs, test systems, and logs. Show them how you release a change. Then introduce them to the people who know the business rules.
Next, show them the danger zones. Every old CF app has a few. Maybe one report takes forever. Maybe one scheduled task has seen things. Maybe the billing code sits behind a door marked, "Speak, friend, and enter."
It's better to learn about those quirks on Monday than during a Friday release.
The first 30 days: Give them real work
Training is much easier when a CF developer can work on something real.
Start with a small bug, report, or feature. Pair them with someone who knows the CF app. Let them find the code and make the change. Then let them test it and see how it gets released.
This teaches them far more than a huge folder of old CF docs. It also means they don't have to ask Steve about everything.
Use code reviews as training too. Explain why the app works the way it does. Show them the patterns you want to keep. Point out old patterns the team wants to stop using.
The goal is simple. Help them learn how your team writes CF without making them decode every rune alone.
Days 30 to 90: Spread the knowledge
By now, the new CF developer should know their way around the app. It's time to give them more control.
Let them take charge of a small part of the CF app. Give them time to write down what they learn. Let them make old tests better and clean up code that is hard to follow. They should also feel free to ask, "Why do we do it this way?" This is also the time to check the bus factor.
Can they deploy without one person standing beside them? Do they know where the CF logs are? Can they trace a slow request? Do they know how the database fits into the app? Can they explain one important business CF workflow back to you?
If the answer is still "ask Steve," your fellowship has more work to do.
And poor Steve needs a vacation.
The 90-day checklist
By day 90, a new CF developer should have:
* A development setup that works
* Access to the code, docs, logs, and test systems
* A clear view of the CF app's key business processes
* Experience shipping real changes
* Someone they can ask for help
* A good idea of which parts of the CF app need extra care
* The skills to take charge of a small part of the app
A chance to make the docs better for the next new hire
That last one matters. Good onboarding should make the next onboarding easier.
Oh, and they should also buy Steve a coffee.
🌟Onward!
In the next issue of the CF Alive newsletter, we’ll look at how your codebase can affect your hiring.
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