As you might know, I’ve joined an apprenticeship at Google 5 months ago. I completed my 3 month bootcamp in December last year, with an additional 3 weeks of internal training. So, when January 2022 started, I was assigned to a team of incredible people which has been really exciting to be a part of.
I thought it would be valuable to share some thoughts and observations I've made from working in a new environment. Everyone's experience will probably differ, but I still think they’re worth jotting down for anyone in an internship or new job.
Independency is fine, but reach out
I used to be a bit too independent with programming, up to the point where I would struggle for no reason other than to just be a lone wolf. But recently I realised that asking good, competent questions goes a long way with striking up interesting conversations. Most of the people I’ve asked a question from either answered it, transferred me to someone who can answer, or someone who couldn’t, but spinned up an interesting discussion.
You’re not an inconvenience
I doubt anyone would be frustrated with you asking a question, unless it's obviously something you could've just searched quickly. Either way, people love being asked good questions as it gives them an opportunity to teach something they're good at. The amount of times I loved just sharing my knowledge with someone else because I got to learn something I might not have noticed. See “Curse of knowledge” for an interesting read about assuming something from a beginner, and not noticing something they see.
Forget memorising everything
After joining, I was assigned a new technology to learn quite often, which was obviously overwhelming for me as it's hard to balance it all. But, I noticed how everything I was learning I would forget in a couple of days. This is because I wasn't really using it in a real world project, so my brain wasn't too keen on remembering anything. But the important thing was that I knew about its presence, so if I came across something that might need a specific library, I would know it would be a good fit. I had no idea how to use it, but like I said before, I know how to search and find answers efficiently which would allow me to.
That's all for now, but I’ll be looking out for any other things I notice in the coming months that’ll be valuable to share.