Things I wish I did more when ramping up at the new job

It can be quite overwhelming to start at a new job. There’s a lot of nervousness towards the new environment, anxiety about interpersonal relationships, and pressure to make good impression, not to mention the daunting task of getting up to speed and becoming actually useful.

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For me, my recent career change came with not just a new company and industry, but also a new language and country. Inevitably there has been some uneasiness and discomfort. I am still in that stage a little bit but so far I’ve learned a few lessons that should be kept in mind as I continue to navigate this transition.

Write everything down

Physically or digitally, it doesn’t matter as long as it works well. Whether it’s questions or pieces of information, I started writing everything down and I wish I was more on top of it earlier. In the beginning I had so many questions that I couldn’t keep track sometimes.

It might seem like a generic tip, like duh, write things down, but when I was overwhelmed with all the questions I wanted to ask and the negative emotions I felt about my ignorance, I didn’t always remember to write things down.

When I did, it made a big difference so after some point I started to consciously make sure I jot things down more, especially questions. In an existing google doc, where I already kept my to-do lists and a running list of resources for picking up knowledge, I started tracking outstanding questions. And then when I have a meeting for which any questions might be relevant, I drop the them from my doc to the meeting notes as an agenda item. In the end it served not only as documentation and organization, but also calmed my uneasy feelings throughout the transition process.

I no longer write everything down as obsessively as before, because I know enough to identify what’s necessary and feel comfortable taking notes more selectively. But before I reached this point, it’s definitely good to err on the side of writing too much down rather than too little.

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With questions specifically, on the other hand, I more or less continued to write them down diligently. Ideally when a question arise, I get them answered quickly, but often times question can pop up when it’s not the best timing to ask or when I’m simply not in a conversation with the right person to ask. Writing them down is a way to keep them from falling off my radar, and to help me recall them at a later time if necessary.

Proactively and intentionally look for information to ramp up knowledge

I like to get to the bottom of things when it comes to work. Even if I’m only one small part of a process, I like to know how the whole thing works and the roles of other people involved. It helps me better understand the bigger picture and keep that broader point of view in mind as I go about my work.

With that said, when I was starting at the new job, I had an overwhelming amount of things to learn but didn’t know how best to get my arms around them. I could go around asking questions as I came across things but the frequency of that would be very high and I might end up asking questions about every tiny detail. I wasn’t sure that was the right approach. As much as possible, I wanted each answered question, of batch of questions, to lead to more clarity.

Instead of shooting out questions aimlessly, I needed to organize what to ask in order to facilitate my learning in a structured way. On the notebook where I collected my questions, I started to form connections between outstanding questions and existing knowledge to identify bigger themes.

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This step gave me so much more clarity and allowed me to prioritize the questions. Then, I’m able to improve my understanding in a more logical way by asking the more crucial questions and knowing not to dwell on the smaller details unless an assigned task requires me to. I knew what gap in knowledge each question is filling and how it contributes to a greater understanding.

Improving my understanding entails several things. After I get the crucial questions answered, I then understand the big themes more clearly and can narrow down which ones I need to further dig in. As I approach a level of granularity with topics that can be documented, I start looking for documents or decks for them. Ideally there is some form of documentation I can go through and ask questions about if there are any. However, there were many things that either aren’t documented or are documented in a not easily discovered way, in which case I would ask people for resource and information.

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It’s a really tough process because I don’t like to bother people, or to feel like I don’t know anything. But at the same time, when I’m new, there are times I have to ask in order to slowly leave the ‘know nothing’ phase.

After a few months, I have finally gained enough knowledge to be more useful. Of course there are still things I don’t know and I continue to dig but it’s not as painful after getting through that initial hurdle. No matter how draining it felt during that first part, I kept in mind that it is temporary.

It’s not really possible to know everything, but I can ramp up my knowledge more intentionally by learning in an order and structure that make sense. As a result, I can also feel much more confident with the direction I’m heading towards.

Don’t be too hard on myself

Sometimes I forget that I was at my previous company for quite some time. The knowledge and network accumulated through the years allowed me to navigate things in the company very seamlessly. I knew enough to either do my work well or find the resources that would enable me to do my work well. The network, the resource, and the camaraderie need to be rebuilt at a new company, with new processes and new people.

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My current company is completely different from my prior one, from software, processes, culture, language, to even email apps and dress code. When I don’t feel like I’m progressing enough, I often get disappointed with myself first before anything. But in reality, not allowing myself time that I would probably grant to others is really quite harsh. I’m learning to give more patience and grace to myself, and to never forget to enjoy the ride.

Conclusion

Going through a career change is never easy. However, with the right habits, tools, and mindset, I can set myself up well for a much smoother transition. It’s also important to recognize that time is a necessary ingredient for change. This is especially true for intangible things such as credibility in a company, which is potentially the biggest gap for me to bridge in this career change. Often a byproduct of delivering consistently and people working well together repeatedly, it is something that cannot be rushed.

I also try to take a step back and remind myself how much I’ve come. It’s easy to get stuck in the feeling of struggle and be harsh on myself. All I can do is prepare as much as possible, give it my best, and wait patiently for things to develop over time.