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Dealing with New Hire Imposter Syndrome

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Senior Software Engineer at Taro Community3 months ago

I started a new role that I feel under qualified for. In my previous role, I was on the team for many years and naturally became one of the most senior people on the team. I was a full stack engineer and new a lot about React and APIs, however, my new role is completely different (mainly about infrastructure and terraform). In my previous role, I felt so comfortable and knew so much about where the code lies, how everything fit together, and all the people connections I had there.

How do I stop missing my previous role and move on? Also, how do I get up to speed with all the new technology I have to learn quickly? I already feel so behind and I keep asking for help because I don't know where anything is. I don't feel like a senior engineer in my new role and I'm worried what other people on the team are thinking about my lack of infrastructure experience.

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    Tech Lead @ Robinhood, Meta, Course Hero
    3 months ago

    Being new on a team is like puberty: It's awkward, and it happens to everyone, even very senior people. Unlike puberty though, you have more control over it:

    1. Your mindset - Use your cluelessness as an asset instead of treating it as a weakness
    2. Your urgency - Accelerate the time table by aggressively asking questions, being extremely nice/friendly/enthusiastic, and winning with quality

    All of this is covered in the onboarding course: The Complete Onboarding Guide For Software Engineers

    For something more specific, I gave a case study on how I quickly adapted after switching from Meta to Robinhood: [Case Study] Becoming A Tech Lead Again In Just 1 Month After Joining Robinhood From Meta

    I like this thread as well: "How do you learn "on the job"?"

    I assume the company you're working for now is a good one that you're proud to be at. If this is the case, that means that their interview process is very fine-tuned, engineered to only let in the best people. The fact that you passed means that you belong there! Keep your head high.