The non-technical onboarding gap: what growing tech companies miss, and how to close it

A free masterclass for HR and L&D leaders at growing tech companies

8 October 2026, 9 am Mountain Time

Can't make it live? Register anyway and we'll send you the recording.

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Your non-technical hires are taking longer to ramp up than they should. Most companies don't know why.

You hired strong people for legal, finance, procurement, sales and people roles.

But at a tech company, they're surrounded by conversations about APIs, releases and data pipelines.

Many don't fully understand them, and won't admit it.

The result:

Slower time to productivity
Weaker collaboration with product and engineering teams
Lower engagement, and a higher risk of losing hires you worked hard to land

Why you probably haven't seen it

Employees at tech companies regularly come to us for training and pay for it themselves, in secret from their employers.

They don't want colleagues to know they're lost, because they feel they "should know this by now."

Searching online or asking Claude often leaves them more confused. Asking an engineer or a manager feels risky.

So the gap stays hidden, and it widens as your company grows: early hires pick up the tech by osmosis, but the specialists you hire at scale often never sit near engineering.

In this class, you'll learn:

Why the gap widens as you scale, and how to spot it in your own team
The tech concepts that trip up non-technical hires most, and how to tailor them to your product
Quick wins you can add to onboarding next week
How to build a lightweight, ongoing program, even without a dedicated L&D team

Who it's for

HR, people, talent and L&D leaders at VC-backed and growing tech companies, whether you're a team of 40 or 400.

Your instructor

Sophia Matveeva is the founder and CEO of Tech for Non-Techies, which has trained more than 800 non-technical professionals and leaders to work confidently with technology and technical teams. Her programs are trusted by Microsoft, Techstars, the Royal Bank of Canada and Oxford University.

She is a guest lecturer at Oxford University, London Business School and Chicago Booth, and has spoken at events including Cannes Lions. Her work has been featured in the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review and Forbes.