How can I reduce the time spent waiting on answers from senior engineers during ramp-up?

Hi guys, I'm a new hire at Meta, and something that I've consistently struggled with across my previous roles is waiting hours, sometimes even days, for answers to questions I send to senior engineers. They’re usually busy or in back-to-back meetings, and while they are all nice and always encourage questions, responses tend to be delayed. This has been especially difficult during onboarding, when so much of the necessary context isn’t documented.

Even more frustrating is that, after waiting, the answers I get are often vague, partial, or not actionable. I try to be thoughtful with how I ask. I explore independently first, I check internal wikis and documentation, and I even use ChatGPT to help refine my questions. But I still frequently end up blocked—waiting on input, and then not getting the clarity I was hoping for.

One of the biggest challenges is that I often don’t even know what to search for. As someone new to the codebase and terminology, I’m unsure which direction to explore. Documentation exists, but I don’t always know how to utilize it effectively. I’m not sure what’s accurate, what’s outdated, or whether I’m even looking in the right place. At the same time, I’ve been told both “just read the docs” and “the docs are probably outdated,” which only adds to the confusion.

The frustrating part is that I don’t want to be blocked or slow things down, but sometimes I feel stuck waiting for clarification. Even when I do my best to explore on my own first, I eventually hit a wall where I need input from someone more experienced to move forward confidently.

I’m a mid-level backend engineer, and this is my first role at a FAANG company (Meta). I want to be more effective, but it’s been hard in an environment that seems heavily reliant on tribal knowledge and hallway context.

Has anyone else dealt with this kind of situation? Are there strategies that have helped you reduce turnaround time on questions, or work more effectively while waiting? I’d really appreciate any tips or insights.