How do I create impact as a junior engineer in a team full of very experienced folks?

My advice is to pick an area, however small, and become an expert in it. If you pick an area small enough, you can become the expert among a group of 15-20 people within a few weeks. This is where the Taro Expertise Theory comes in.

Taro Expertise Theory: You can become more knowledgeable than anyone

• Within a group of people P (e.g. the team of 10)
• Within a certain domain D (e.g. the build system)
• Within a certain time T (e.g. a week)

Your goal is to maximize P and D while minimizing T. You can also ask about neglected areas from people on the team as a way to build the relationship and figure out where you should become the expert.

(I highly recommend going through the entire onboarding course!)

I like the go-getter attitude here! My main advice is to not rush it. Impact should come naturally and not feel forced. What should happen is that you come in full of positive energy, build up relationships, do great work, and then you'll earn trust over time.

After you have the trust, you can start asking your manager, tech lead, etc for more opportunities (and they'll likely just suggest some to you proactively).

In terms of a roadmap, it would go something like this:

1. [Course] The Complete Onboarding Guide For Software Engineers
2. [Course] Level Up Your Code Quality As A Software Engineer
3. [Course] Nail Your Promotion As A Software Engineer

For the promotion course, I highly recommend the lesson about impact as junior engineers aren't really held responsible for it (quality of work is far more important): https://www.jointaro.com/course/nail-your-promotion-as-a-software-engineer/impact/

Thank you so much! I have already started looking into the course.