<story><title>Ask HN: How to start afresh in a new domain after years of expertise in another?</title><text>Hi Guys,
I have over 12 years of expertise in a particular domain.  Now I recently switched to another company in a new domain (based on some overlapping technical skills and good recommendations from my past colleagues) as the jobs were far to come by in my old area of expertise.  But, I&amp;#x27;m finding it really hard to adjust in the new one.&lt;p&gt;The biggest challenges I&amp;#x27;m facing are :&lt;p&gt;1. Looking at my years of experience my colleagues expect an expert level of performance. But being new to the domain, I&amp;#x27;ve not been able to meet their expectations.&lt;p&gt;2. I&amp;#x27;ve tried looking for non-tech roles  PM, TL etc., hoping to leverage my management&amp;#x2F;leadership skills, but my senior management aren&amp;#x27;t buying it.&lt;p&gt;3. I feel isolated in meetings where everyone around me are talking the technology and I just take notes or stay silent mostly.&lt;p&gt;4. When I see guys half my experience are miles ahead of me in terms of the tech skills in the new area, I wonder if I even have a chance catching up ?&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions &amp;#x2F; advice is welcome and highly appreciated.  Thanks in advance !</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>thesumofall</author><text>Two to add:&lt;p&gt;5.) Ask a colleague to give you a dedicated intro session. Not just a random “I show you some stuff on my PC” but a real one. Typically a nice way for the colleague to reflect on their learning as well and&amp;#x2F;or prepare a public talk :-)&lt;p&gt;6.) Be aware that almost no one really knows. They are all bluffing, they are all biased. There are exceptions but they are super rare. Even someone 2-4 years in a specific job will get his stuff done but still struggle with some concepts. On Management Level it gets worse as those guys tend to not have the time to digg into it</text></item><item><author>thesumofall</author><text>I couldn’t agree more. As a strategy consultant I do have to face new clients on a regular basis. Sometimes the industry &amp;#x2F; topic overlaps with the previous engagement - often not.&lt;p&gt;1.) Really, really, really ask those dumb questions in the first week. Everyone will tolerate it and even expect it&lt;p&gt;2.) Learn the basics of your new domain &amp;#x2F; industry top-down asap. Meaning: understand for what your company gets paid for, understand the basic process how it gets delivered, understand the strengths &amp;#x2F; weaknesses of your company. Know who the key customers are and what they really want. It’s often the new guys who are empowered to challenge those high-level topics while everyone else takes it for granted (and often have the wrong idea in mind)&lt;p&gt;3.) Always ask a question &amp;#x2F; say something during the first five minutes of a meeting. It just gets harder and harder afterwards. But as soon as you asked you’re in the game&lt;p&gt;4.) Bring in experience from the past but try to take the extra mile of translating it as much as possible to the new situation (“at my last gig we did... I understand that here we have... however I see further potential in...)</text></item><item><author>Ensorceled</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve switched domains all the time (CAD&amp;#x2F;CAM -&amp;gt; Medical Imaging -&amp;gt; Genomics -&amp;gt; Web Development -&amp;gt; Internet Security -&amp;gt; VR -&amp;gt; Fintech), things I&amp;#x27;ve found helpful:&lt;p&gt;1. Ask a lot of questions at the start. People know you&amp;#x27;ve switched domains and will tolerate dumb questions for a while.&lt;p&gt;2. Don&amp;#x27;t ask the same dumb question twice.&lt;p&gt;3. Read a lot to get into the new head space.  Set up google alerts for your company and its competitors.  Join forums dedicated to your new tech and domain.&lt;p&gt;4. Offer learnings from your old domain, humbly.  &amp;quot;At my last gig, we approached this &amp;lt;method&amp;gt;.  May not apply.&amp;quot;  This shows everybody you have things to offer but you are just getting your sea legs.&lt;p&gt;5. LEAVE THE OLD JOB.  All of the above things you did for your old gig.  Stop doing them,  you don&amp;#x27;t have time anymore.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>8ytecoder</author><text>Can&amp;#x27;t stress (6) enough. Most people do stuff because that&amp;#x27;s what they heard first or it&amp;#x27;s a solution they found for a problem that existed years ago. Having a new perspective and questioning existing norms is healthy. You can add value there more than most of the existing &amp;quot;tribe&amp;quot;.</text></comment>
<story><title>Ask HN: How to start afresh in a new domain after years of expertise in another?</title><text>Hi Guys,
I have over 12 years of expertise in a particular domain.  Now I recently switched to another company in a new domain (based on some overlapping technical skills and good recommendations from my past colleagues) as the jobs were far to come by in my old area of expertise.  But, I&amp;#x27;m finding it really hard to adjust in the new one.&lt;p&gt;The biggest challenges I&amp;#x27;m facing are :&lt;p&gt;1. Looking at my years of experience my colleagues expect an expert level of performance. But being new to the domain, I&amp;#x27;ve not been able to meet their expectations.&lt;p&gt;2. I&amp;#x27;ve tried looking for non-tech roles  PM, TL etc., hoping to leverage my management&amp;#x2F;leadership skills, but my senior management aren&amp;#x27;t buying it.&lt;p&gt;3. I feel isolated in meetings where everyone around me are talking the technology and I just take notes or stay silent mostly.&lt;p&gt;4. When I see guys half my experience are miles ahead of me in terms of the tech skills in the new area, I wonder if I even have a chance catching up ?&lt;p&gt;Any suggestions &amp;#x2F; advice is welcome and highly appreciated.  Thanks in advance !</text></story><parent_chain><item><author>thesumofall</author><text>Two to add:&lt;p&gt;5.) Ask a colleague to give you a dedicated intro session. Not just a random “I show you some stuff on my PC” but a real one. Typically a nice way for the colleague to reflect on their learning as well and&amp;#x2F;or prepare a public talk :-)&lt;p&gt;6.) Be aware that almost no one really knows. They are all bluffing, they are all biased. There are exceptions but they are super rare. Even someone 2-4 years in a specific job will get his stuff done but still struggle with some concepts. On Management Level it gets worse as those guys tend to not have the time to digg into it</text></item><item><author>thesumofall</author><text>I couldn’t agree more. As a strategy consultant I do have to face new clients on a regular basis. Sometimes the industry &amp;#x2F; topic overlaps with the previous engagement - often not.&lt;p&gt;1.) Really, really, really ask those dumb questions in the first week. Everyone will tolerate it and even expect it&lt;p&gt;2.) Learn the basics of your new domain &amp;#x2F; industry top-down asap. Meaning: understand for what your company gets paid for, understand the basic process how it gets delivered, understand the strengths &amp;#x2F; weaknesses of your company. Know who the key customers are and what they really want. It’s often the new guys who are empowered to challenge those high-level topics while everyone else takes it for granted (and often have the wrong idea in mind)&lt;p&gt;3.) Always ask a question &amp;#x2F; say something during the first five minutes of a meeting. It just gets harder and harder afterwards. But as soon as you asked you’re in the game&lt;p&gt;4.) Bring in experience from the past but try to take the extra mile of translating it as much as possible to the new situation (“at my last gig we did... I understand that here we have... however I see further potential in...)</text></item><item><author>Ensorceled</author><text>I&amp;#x27;ve switched domains all the time (CAD&amp;#x2F;CAM -&amp;gt; Medical Imaging -&amp;gt; Genomics -&amp;gt; Web Development -&amp;gt; Internet Security -&amp;gt; VR -&amp;gt; Fintech), things I&amp;#x27;ve found helpful:&lt;p&gt;1. Ask a lot of questions at the start. People know you&amp;#x27;ve switched domains and will tolerate dumb questions for a while.&lt;p&gt;2. Don&amp;#x27;t ask the same dumb question twice.&lt;p&gt;3. Read a lot to get into the new head space.  Set up google alerts for your company and its competitors.  Join forums dedicated to your new tech and domain.&lt;p&gt;4. Offer learnings from your old domain, humbly.  &amp;quot;At my last gig, we approached this &amp;lt;method&amp;gt;.  May not apply.&amp;quot;  This shows everybody you have things to offer but you are just getting your sea legs.&lt;p&gt;5. LEAVE THE OLD JOB.  All of the above things you did for your old gig.  Stop doing them,  you don&amp;#x27;t have time anymore.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>kangman</author><text>At our company when I was on boarded we had a process called boot camps.  Which was basically a week set aside with meetings for each respective team&amp;#x2F;department to get a high level over view of what they do and how they fit together with the company as a whole.  This gave me some good insight on how I fit in as well as open up new dumb questions to follow up with.</text></comment>