Learning the environment.
WHAT TO LEARN FIRST
What systems exist and what each does Who the users are and what they do What breaks most often Where documentation lives Who to ask about what
WHY THAT ORDER
Because context makes every technical detail meaningful.
WHAT TO BUILD FROM DAY ONE
Your own notes: what you learn, what you fix, what you were told.
WHY
Institutional knowledge is largely undocumented, and you will forget it.
WHAT TO RECORD
The unwritten practices, which no manual contains.
WHAT TO DO WITH EVERY RESOLVED TICKET
Establish why it worked, not only that it did.
WHY
Otherwise you accumulate procedures without understanding, and cannot handle variations.
WHAT TO STUDY ALONGSIDE
Fundamentals: networking, operating systems, storage, identity.
WHY THOSE
They underpin everything, and they change slowly.
WHAT NOT TO CHASE
Every new product.
WHAT TO SEEK
Exposure to systems you do not yet support.
WHAT TO ASK SENIOR COLLEAGUES
How they approached a problem, not only what they did.
