Two things that are important for new grads but also relevant more generally (especially when moving companies/starting a new role).
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1) Networking: make sure you know people in various parts of your organisation. Perhaps takes a bit more effort now hybrid and remote working is common but it's important to attend social events, at least show your face regularly for a round or two in the pub etc. Smokers have a huge advantage here as they congregate in the same areas and inherently build a network just from sharing a fag with people across departments.
Ad hoc, informal social events are good too, if a few people in your team fancy go karting then send an email out across the local office/department with a proposed date and see if anyone else fancies it... have done poker nights, go karting, trips to some random ping pong bar. Turn up to the formal company events too, not just the Christmas party. Company entering a charity run... turn up, even if you're fat and slow, plenty of fat execs and HR women "running" at walking pace at these things... so just turn up, it's the drinks/BBQ after the event that most people enjoy.
Likewise network externally too, turn up at industry events, meet people outside your company, ask about what they're working on.
Why do all this? It just makes life so much easier if you know people and are known. What works better drafting an email or trying to message on slack some busy stranger you've not met before or contacting the guy you had beers with on slack/communicator or asking a quick question by the coffee machine etc..
Maybe you've got an interest in some different area X, a couple of the guys in the X team know you and let you know Brian is leaving soon or there's a new project and they're swamped so they'll probably have a new role open up. Maybe your manager tries to stop you from leaving your current team but you see an MD you know in the pub and complain to him about it informally, by next week he's overruled your manager (this literally happened to me years ago).
The same thing externally - I've seen posts in this sub-form by mid-career people talking about applying for jobs, that's sub-optimal. You want referrals from people you've worked with, people you've met at events who say send me your CV/add me on LinkedIn or (good) recruiters who know your industry well. You'll get a first-round interview 99% of the time if it's from a direct personal referral. This works both ways too, companies want you to refer good people you know or have met as referrals are known to typically be better hires, they often offer employees cash rewards for successful referrals for this very reason. Doesn't even have to be your team, Darren who you met at go karting is looking for a Scala Developer for his team and you remember some guy Dan from a hackathon who was an absolutely cracked Scala guy so you reach out and offer to make the referral. Later on they're like "where did we find Dan again, he's insanely productive" "oh dowie met him at a hackathon and referred him"... it just looks good for you too if you've actively brought in good people... also those same people are likely to return the favour to you if asked later on.
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2) Asking for help (constructively):
This somewhat ties in with the above but applies more broadly too, there will always be some people you've not met yet in a big organisation. Especially important as a new grad or indeed in a new company. You're sometimes going to find yourself in a situation where you're stuck on something, someone else probably has the solution and just two minutes of their time can probably save 2 hours or maybe even 2 days of your own time, massive negative for you in the latter case if you've allowed yourself to be stuck for that long.
If you're a new grad (or indeed a new, experienced hire *if* asking about company-specific stuff) you'll get a lot of leeway initially. Ideally for the long-winded stuff where a bit of teaching/mentoring is needed, you want to speak to people in your own team or teams you're going to be working closely with, ideally still you should have a mentor to help with the really generic stuff. Do not blow this, take notes both to help yourself and because of the next point...
Avoid asking repeated question. It's going to pee people off a lot, especially if they're busy. If someone is showing you something and you didn't quite get down every step stop them then and there "wait, just go over that last part again" as you take your notes.... don't nod along if you didn't follow it as that just means you need to ask again later, get it all clear the first time around. Can be anything from how to log a timesheet, support ticket, how to log into a test system, how to get a log file whatever... There's going to be some level of basic knowledge that everyone in the company or everyone in your job/role has, that's going to require some guidance but you need to be self-sufficient at the basic stuff quickly as if you have to ask that stuff again because you didn't note it down before you're not only going to look like a chump you're potentially taking time away from the other stuff you need to ask that you couldn't have known. This ties into...
Help people to help you. One of the worst things you can do is to try and dump the whole problem on someone else, unless it's been incorrectly assigned to you in the first place then WTF are you doing??? Especially if you're going to someone external to your team or speaking to someone you've never met before and asking for advice. First, ask yourself what have you done?
I think it's OK sometimes to ask for some pointers, especially if it's an area you're less familiar with but this should be super brief and not turn into you trying to get them to do your work for you if you've done nothing so far... Make it clear you're just asking for initial pointers. Even then you should perhaps outline a few thoughts "I'm about to tackle this X issue, I'm going to get A, B and C and try Y approach but I'm a bit uncertain about Z." Asking about a general approach to something or for some documentation their team may have are fine, quick, initial questions.
But more generally you really ought to have done some work yourself and narrowed down your question, especially for people external to your team, to something specific. "I've done A, B and C, I've checked X and Y... I think Z is a possible issue"... and they're the expert on Z... What shouldn't be happening is you approaching them and them having to say "have you checked A, B and C" if those are obvious things for you to have done already! Make sure the expert on Z is being asked specifically about Z and you've done your work first on A, B, C... or whatever basic stuff any competent developer, consultant, or whatever your job is should know as it's a complete waste of the other person's time if they're having to coach you through basic things.
It's such a bad thing to do when asking for help and makes people look like complete chumps, the difference between a good grad and a bad grad or indeed even some experienced consultants say... that stuff impacts your reputation. People will avoid phone calls and delay answering emails or slack/communicator messages from time wasters... but the guy who has his **** together and who makes a phone call is much more likely to have it answered as they know it's more likely to be a quick question. The guy who has his **** together *and* is known to them, was at go-karting, beers etc.. is even more likely to be able to reach out and ask for help.
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Those two things are a huge multiplier, you might be equally as skilled as someone else but, if you're able to avoid getting stuck on something for hours by asking a quick 2-minute question, or if you're able to be more efficient because people more readily answer your calls/messages and give you advice then you're going to be more productive overall. Additionally, you're increasing your chances of promotions or internal moves and indeed later on external moves from the people you're getting known by and you're hopefully leaving a good impression with.
Did you read this to your cat before posting?
. Where would you be without moaning?
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