Hitting the ground running

We hear it all the time: “We need people who can hit the ground running.”

It sounds sensible, who wouldn’t want that? But when every team builds this way, the foundations start to crumble.

In the complex environments we work in, delivery pressures are high, systems are intricate, and context is everything. Experienced engineers are essential to navigating those realities.

But there is a hidden challenge in always prioritising immediate impact.

The lost art of team composition

When teams are built almost entirely of senior engineers, it is usually to reduce risk and ensure autonomy from day one. Yet over time, that approach can introduce new risks.

In senior-heavy teams, we see talented, experienced engineers lose motivation. The work doesn’t stretch them, delivery slows. Experienced engineers have to conduct basic tasks. Costs remain higher than necessary.

When, ultimately, they leave to find a new challenge, who is there to step in? Normally the answer is: Let’s find a senior that can “hit the ground running”.

I’ve seen it happen more than once. The team built for speed, ends up standing still.

Meanwhile, opportunities to develop the next generation quietly fade away.

The compound value of juniors

Juniors are not a drag on productivity; they are an investment in capability and culture. They ask the questions others stopped asking. They challenge assumptions. They absorb a company’s culture and values at a formative stage.

When supported properly, juniors create a multiplier effect that strengthens the entire team dynamic:

• They allow senior engineers to delegate basic tasks and focus on technical challenges.
• They bring curiosity and energy to teams that might otherwise have lost this.
• They build continuity by becoming the engineers of tomorrow who already understand the product and the people.
• They allow experienced engineers to stay challenged in new ways, developing their people leadership skills as they themselves prepare for the next stage of their careers.

And with more AI tooling integrated into development workflows, initial code reviews can be automated to catch common issues, ensuring time is not lost with a basic level of quality before senior engineers step in.

Reframing the goal

Perhaps the question is not: “Can they hit the ground running?”

But rather: “Do we have an environment where people can start running quickly?”

That means clear onboarding, accessible documentation, psychological safety, and a culture that values learning and sharing as much as delivery. Yes, we can measure efficiency in many ways – sprint points, release cycles, etc. But if you measure yourself by how quickly new people can make a meaningful contribution, where do you land?

Several well-known tech companies expect new engineers to push a small change to production during their first week (or even day) – think Shopify, Meta, Google. It’s designed to build confidence, trust and a sense of ownership early on.

Building for the long term

At Mindera, we see team composition as a strategic decision, not a staffing exercise. Bringing in junior engineers takes effort, but it is the same effort that builds loyalty, prevents burnout, and keeps teams inventive. When done well, it can reduce costs, while improving productivity.

As technology accelerates how we work, the opportunity to grow talent has never been greater. The principle remains unchanged: experience and potential working side by side create the strongest teams.

True velocity comes from actually building teams, not selecting individuals.

Simon Chapman is Client Principal at Mindera.

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Key takeaways

• In senior-heavy engineering teams, talented, experienced engineers lose motivation. The work doesn’t stretch them, delivery slows. Experienced engineers have to conduct basic tasks. Costs remain higher than necessary.
• Juniors are not a drag on productivity; they are an investment in capability and culture. They ask the questions others stopped asking. They challenge assumptions. They absorb a company’s culture and values at a formative stage.
• Bringing in junior engineers takes effort, but it is the same effort that builds loyalty, prevents burnout, and keeps teams inventive. When done well, it can reduce costs, while improving productivity.