I remember my first week at $Org. I needed to fix a bug in an internal rule-engine based system. Simple in theory, except I had no idea what the hell was a “rule engine”. I started looking into Wikis, old Slack threads, half-baked GitHub READMEs, and still found nothing. I felt annoyed. I felt stuck. Finally, two days in, a staff engineer quietly said: “Have you checked the FinanceOps Slack channel?” I hadn’t even known that channel existed, let alone realized the rule engine tied into FinanceOps.

That experience was a wake-up call. Whether you’re a brand-new hire or a mid-level engineer who’s used to smaller orgs, big companies can feel labyrinthine. It’s easy to get stuck, freeze, and wait for directions. But the truth is, no one is coming to spoon-feed you. Resourcefulness in a large org is not just a nice-to-have, it’s a skill that keeps you moving when the path is blurry.

Below, we’ll explore the common pitfalls that stall your growth, why resourcefulness is the solution, and how to earn it. If you’re a mid-level engineer who’s felt this pain (or a manager who’s watching your team go through it), you’re at the right place.

The Problem: Three Ways We Stall Ourselves

1. The Homework-Style Questioners

You’ve probably met (or been) this person:

“Who owns this API?”

“Where’s the docs for that script?”

“Why isn’t my code building?” (with no logs, no error messages)

It’s not laziness. It’s a dependency habit: these engineers learn it’s easier (sometimes safer) to ask rather than experiment. But this habit doesn’t just waste others’ time; it stalls their own growth. If you’re stuck in this pattern, you’re likely worried about wasting time or looking foolish. It’s okay to be unsure; it’s not okay to never try figuring it out yourself.

2. The Perpetually Blocked

Then, there are those who really want to make progress but stare at their screens, unsure where to even begin. Large orgs are confusing, you can’t just read every Slack channel or doc in one go.

It’s normal to feel overwhelmed; that’s when self-doubt creeps in. The trick is to turn that doubt into good detective work, not despair. Waiting for clarity forever just compounds frustration, leading to anxiety and a lack of confidence in your own abilities.

3. The Perfect-Context Seekers

Finally, some engineers refuse to move unless everything’s crystal clear:

“I need immaculate requirements and zero unknowns before I start.” – Perfect-Context Seeker

This mindset shifts responsibility for progress onto others. In reality, any sizable org is in constant flux: documentation, systems, priorities. If you wait for someone else to hand you clarity, you’ll never get moving.

The Insight: Resourcefulness

A major challenge in large orgs is that you often don’t have a mentor who can guide you at every twist and turn, or you haven’t stumbled across the right bits of tribal knowledge yet. Fortunately, resourcefulness can be learned.

• Resourceful engineers don’t drown in the unknown; they search, tinker, experiment, and fail fast
• Resourceful teams keep delivering: even with half-baked docs and 13 different Slack channels

But how do you build this muscle?

Building Your Resourcefulness Habit

Resourcefulness, like any habit, needs structure to thrive. Before you ask for help, try this sequence. It’s more than a checklist; it’s a personal routine for unblocking yourself:

1. Find the Known: Slack & Documentation
   • Slack: Search relevant channels, read pinned messages, and scan discussions
   • Confluence or Knowledge Base: Skim any doc titles that might remotely relate to your issue
2. Search the Code and the Web
   • GitHub (or Internal Repos): Look at READMEs, open issues, test cases
   • Google / Stack Overflow: Chances are, someone’s seen your error or question before
3. Experiment, Instrument, Debug
   • Run the code. Step through logs. Add debug lines. Comment out suspicious blocks
   • Sometimes you discover the answer by seeing how it breaks
4. Take Notes on What You’ve Tried
   • Keep a running doc of your attempts. This helps you and anyone you might ask later
5. Then, Ask (If Needed)

• Provide context: “I’ve tried X, Y, Z. Here’s the logs. I’m stuck on this specific point.”
• This does two things: it respects their time and shows you’re learning from the process

Navigating the Big Org

Once you’ve learnt the usual “search on Slack, read the docs, and Google it” routine, it’s time to level up your internal navigation skills. This next layer of resourcefulness is about mapping the organization. Here’s how to do it.

1. Embrace the Tribal Knowledge
   • Large orgs are part social network, part labyrinth. Learn who the “glue people” are. The ones who always seem to know the backstory of every system. They’ll point you in the right direction if you approach them respectfully (and not just in crisis)
   • If there’s an official org chart, study it. Draw lines between teams that interact often. Keep a doc, highlight known owners, frequent collaborators, and friction points.

     
     Pro Tip: For deeper reading on organizational understanding, check out this post.
2. Shadow and Reverse-Engineer
   • How do they debug, search Slack, or dissect code? Notice the queries they run, the channels they watch, and how they approach ambiguous problems
   • Major successes leave a trail in RFCs, PRs, or Slack threads. Study them to see how decisions were made, who was involved, and how blockers got cleared
3. Ask “Why?” Until You Hit the Root
   • Following the Five Whys technique helps you uncover systemic issues, not just surface mistakes
   • If something is broken or unclear, ask a chain of why’s. “Why is the billing script reliant on an unmaintained library? Why hasn’t it been updated?” You’ll uncover real constraints and histories, which builds your context
4. Build Your Own Knowledge Base
   • Track the weird corners of the code, known owners, or ancient scripts. Even a simple Notion/Bear page called “Org Map” works. Over time, you’ll be the person others rely on
   • Advanced searches (from:@username, in:#channel, has:link) can help you find old but crucial information
   • Pay attention to people who always seem to have the right link or snippet. Watch their patterns. Like which channels they lurk in or how they phrase questions. They’ve probably learnt the org’s hidden pockets of information
   • Don’t limit yourself to just your team’s Slack. Peek into #infra, #alerts, #rant, #memes: any place where informal (but crucial) knowledge might surface. The more you see how other teams talk about problems, the more you’ll anticipate them
5. Fix the Things You Trip Over
   • Outdated README? Broken script? Fix it and add a quick note. Your teammates (and future self) will thank you
   • If you ask a question, come back with what you learned. Update the doc or Slack thread. This shows respect for people’s time and leaves a breadcrumb for the next person

Advanced resourcefulness at the end of the day is about ownership and curiosity at scale. You’re not just fixing today’s problem; you’re building an internal map of how the org works. That’s how you transform from perpetually blocked to the detective who can connect dots others miss.

The Manager’s Role

If you’re a manager reading this, you can enable your team’s resourcefulness by:

• Maintain / Share an Updated Org Chart or Team Map
  • Even if it’s just high-level, it reduces time wasted searching for the right person
• Celebrate “Found It Myself” Moments
  • Publicly acknowledge the engineer who solved a tough issue without needing hand-holding
• Encourage Collaboration
  • Host short pair-debugging or knowledge-sharing sessions
  • Give mid-level engineers an hour a week to shadow senior folks, so they can see how ambiguity is handled in real time

The Secret Ingredient

Honestly — all of this boils down to ownership.

You can’t wait for a perfect scenario to land in your lap. You’ll never get a neat “paint-by-numbers” set of instructions. In a big org, you own the process of discovering clarity. As you build resourcefulness, you’re also building your internal sense of ownership: the idea that “this is my problem to solve.”

Your Next Step

Let’s get back to that story: by Day 3, I finally found the Slack channel for FinanceOps. Now, I keep a personal list of relevant Slack channels, who runs them, and what they cover. I’ve learned to do quick code searches and rummage through old docs before I bug people. It’s saved me and them dozens of hours. And more importantly, I feel confident tackling messy problems.

If you’re feeling stuck:

• Pick one resourcefulness tactic from this piece: maybe advanced Slack searches or code spelunking
• Spend 30 minutes tomorrow actively applying it to a current issue
• Document what you discover. Even if you don’t find the solution, you’ll learn something—and hey, in my book, that’s a win

You can be the engineer who waits for clarity to drop from the sky, or the one that creates clarity for yourself and everyone else who follows. My money would be on you creating it, and that’s how you’ll grow from a mid-level engineer to unstoppable problem-solver.

“Resourcefulness is earned, not given.”

Remember that. And you’ll never stay blocked for long. Now, go poke around those 13 Slack channels — you got this!