Feeling like the youngest and least experienced at work
Entering a role without the same life experience or completed coursework as older colleagues makes everyday industry conversations feel completely foreign. Missing basic technical skills, like knowing how to build a pivot table, causes panic and makes it impossible to relate to peers. Worrying that this lack of knowledge is annoying keeps you feeling insecure and isolated from the rest of the team.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Showing curiosity and asking questions instead of pretending to know everythingDid this help you?
- 2Asking coworkers to walk through their tasks and following up with thank yousDid this help you?
- 3Reminding yourself that no one expects you to know everything in the first monthDid this help you?
- 4Googling unfamiliar industry terms as they come upDid this help you?
- 5Relying on school to teach the core fundamentals before starting a professional roleDid this help you?
- 6Asking questions constantly on the job to catch upDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“But now that I’ve recently joined this group I feel like I don’t even work in accounting, everything everyone talks about in here feels so foreign to me.”source ↗
“I am almost done with my associate’s degree and only had one accounting course so maybe I just haven’t learned enough in school yet and that’s why I feel so behind?”source ↗
“Like I’ve never even been asked to make a pivot table before IDEK HOW TO. Panicking obviously…”source ↗
“I constantly feel like I can’t relate/connect to my coworkers who are all on the verge of graduating or becoming lawyers.”source ↗
“how do I get over feeling immature or not experienced enough in life compared to others.”source ↗
“I feel like they find me annoying for not knowing as much as them.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 4Why am I stuck doing basic help desk tasks instead of growing?
- 41Why do I feel so overwhelmed after starting a new job?
- 10Why do I feel so financially behind everyone else?
- 20Why do I feel so far behind in my career compared to others?
- 6Why do I feel completely disconnected from my child?
- 16Why do I feel like a fake in my new management role?