> On the other hand, seniors who think they know it all are dangerous. What’s working well for me is to open conversations by being explicit that I’m trying to

> On the other hand, seniors who think they know it all are dangerous. What’s working well for me is to open conversations by being explicit that I’m trying to make sure my knowledge is accurate, and that I’m phrasing things as statements of fact not because I know them to be true but because they are the premises that the weight of my position depend on. I want you to speak up if I’m wrong because I want us to succeed and I want to be right the next time it comes up! I’ve also found that this bleeds over into other conversations, even where I’m not involved. If my team is used to working in an environment where premises should be challenged, they tend to do the same thing in other contexts. As long as the organization as a whole is accepting of this - and I can’t overstate how important that part is - the whole thing establishes and constantly reinforces a culture of collaborative skepticism. I want to work somewhere that bringing an idea or a project plan to a group isn’t saying “this is what we’re going to do”, it’s saying “this is what I think we should do; if you disagree please try to convince me otherwise - because I want what’s best for us and I want to expand my own abilities” I’m blessed to have a place like that today. I’ve had three in my career thus far, and I’ve stayed at each of those until I was forced to leave in order to grow as an engineer. I interview with this in mind, and it’s very hard to tell from the outside. It seems that about 1/3 of the companies I’ve thought were suitable for me turned out to be.