So I mentioned that I started working at Microsoft right?
The first and most important impressions I got was the sheer scale at which a company like Microsoft works. As in my New Employee Orientation (NEO) day included almost 200 people! Each of us needing security badges, pictures, devices, food, health care info, and on, and on … It was a well oiled machine and it went flawlessly.
The first few weeks are a dream you observe and absorb a lot of information from talented manager and engineers and no matter your appetite there will be more info than than you can possibly concern yourself. Your manager will carefully craft some important short term goals, as in what you need to do over the next few days and weeks and this will be critical for setting a true north.
However, there comes a point during those first few months that your realize the volume of the things you do not know and this can be incredibly intimidating. Up until this point you really do not know what you do not know … it is a kind of third order ignorance.
It feels counterintuitive but knowing almost nothing feels better than knowing say 10% of what you will need. Why? My best guess is that at 10%, for example, you start to realize the scope of the missing information, but at 1% you really cannot see beyond the narrowest of concerns.
It reminds me of the uncanny valley but in reverse...
“In aesthetics, the uncanny valley is a hypothesized relationship between the degree of an object's resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to such an object.”
So in this theory as the object gets closer to human resemblance there is a momentary dip in our emotional response to the object. For me there was this moment where, even though I was growing and perfecting my knowledge of the tech space, it still managed to be in conflict with my confidence.
The good new? The feeling did not last, even though I imagine it will be back. There is a lot of support. Everyone is rooting for my success.
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