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Engineering onboarding cost calculator

Every new hire costs more than salary during their ramp — they consume mentor time and produce at reduced output. See the real number.

Engineers absorbing new hires

25
5200

New engineers per year

5
130

Loaded, during ramp

$130
80250

Senior engineer time cost

$160
100300

Until 80%+ productivity

12wk
226

1 = tribal only, 10 = complete

5/10
110
Annual onboarding cost
$255K
$51K per hire·9.4 FTE-weeks of mentor time
Lost productivity (during ramp)$195K

Hires producing at ~50% during ramp.

Mentor time consumed$60K

Senior engineers pulled off their own work to teach.

What context infrastructure changes
$133K
Annual savings (40% ramp reduction)
~40%
Typical ramp time reduction

New engineers with access to recent shift-end records and a searchable decision log ramp meaningfully faster — they can self-serve the context that would otherwise require weeks of conversations.

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