One of the things that endeared me most to my current big tech employer was the understanding that it would be weeks before I could do anything.

Yeah. I sat through the sessions and followed along. But the internal docs were sorta out of date, and basic stuff seemed to just... not work. And SREs do what they do- ask a ton of intimidating questions and make you feel on the defensive.

But I wasn't expected to get set up. Part of onboarding was slogging through the tech. The k8 madness, the permissions and salts and accesses and everything else. And although it fueled my imposter syndrome at times, I appreciated knowing everybody else went through it too. I wasn't expected to just get it.

We expect people to take a few weeks to settle in. I value that - because onboarding is intimidating as hell. A company that doesn't see that - red flag, for sure.