Ask HN: Should I drink from the firehose?

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I recently joined a new department at my company. I linked up with a long standing member of the group (20+ years). He gave me an overview and one piece of advice: "Don't drink from the firehose right away, give yourself some time to learn, we say it takes a new employee 6-12 months to onboard"...What do you think of this statement / statements like this? Genuine...or an unnecessary standard?

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A lot depends on the job. A fast food worker can get up to speed with a few sips. Take a low level executive job, it take a while to know the complex hierarchy that extends above and below you for the simple fact that you encounter many of them rarely. Some you deal with daily/hourly. It all depends on how gregarious you are (natural salesmen = gregarious), or standoffish yiu are. if you need to manage a huge network, then a standoffish nature might soon finish you off as you get hated above and below. That said, most people need a few simple interactions to deal with people above/below you. You these by watching your peers/ If they grovel to someone, get your belly on the ground....

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