having the humility to admit you don't know something and the stamina to then figure it out is, in my opinion, one of the marks of an excellent engineer

I do my best work when surrounded by such people

learning new things is *hard* and *slow* and *exhausting*

acknowledging that discomfort to others and pushing into it anyway brings your teammates with you

it establishes a level of psychological safety and encourages curiosity and growth

I work on hard things with smart people every day

when someone very senior says "I don't know what this code does, but I'll take a look" that is setting an example to follow

it normalizes admitting gaps and demonstrates how to respond

it lifts others up

people who are marginalized in tech often can't admit their gaps, because it's used against them harshly

someone more privileged, with a higher title or more social capital, can help carve out a space for them by going first

that is the sign of a mature engineer

honestly one of the most impactful things you can do as a senior++ engineer is to inform your team when you don't know something and give status updates as you figure it out

include who you asked for help, docs you read, tests you ran, etc

because I *promise* the less experienced engineers are desperately searching for these breadcrumbs

they want to know how long tasks are supposed to take them

they want to see someone more senior struggling, just a little

they need to know it's ok