How to Reach Escape Velocity in a New Team ?

Who this is for ?

The primary audience for this is new engineers joining teams in a new company, i would try and keep this tailored for engineers in tech. But I think the major principles or themes can be borrowed and used anywhere.

Get a name on your first meeting

On your 1:1 with everyone on your team, after your introductoin with them and general chichatter, just before you thank them for their time, get two names or at least one that you should definitely talk to in order to understand stuff better.

You then keep going down the list given by everyone. You do not have to go all the way to the bottom, you might end up talking to the whole company.

Just a 4-5 interations below the first person and you should be good to go.

Search for todo items in your codebase

The best way to get familiar with a codebase is to solve small issues or solve problmes that no one has the time to get to. Just open up VSCode and in the "search all" bar type TODO: and you should get a bunch of TODOs that engineers have left. and then you just start solving them. Make some PRs that solve them or ask if you need more context, this will enable you to move fast and gain real skills while building credibility on the team.

Take a while to sit back and observe

I know its pretty tempting to join a new team and wanting to make an impact and prove yourself. But you have to remember the team you are joining might have been around for a very long time with team dynamics already set. Don't be afraid to make your voice heard but also ensure to maintain a balancing act to be too pushy about solving things "your" way. Feel free to observe, learn and ask as many questions as you can to know why the thing you are suggesting might not be practical at this point in time.