Learn Faster: Proven Strategies from a Principal Engineer at Amazon

Ever felt like you were drowning in a sea of information with no life jacket? You're not alone; many new employees face this overwhelming challenge. But there is a systematic way to organize your learning from day one and set yourself up for success right away.

When you're the newcomer in a workplace, the pressure to impress can be daunting, especially when conversations feel like an entirely different language. Every moment spent in confusion is time lost, and before you know it, you could be several steps behind. This is a situation many face, including a seasoned principal engineer who navigated complex landscapes for nearly 20 years at Amazon. The good news? You can accelerate your onboarding process dramatically by adopting a systematic approach to learning and knowledge management.

The Power of Categorizing Knowledge

What happens when you first enter a new role? You often ask for documentation and find a mountain of outdated or incomplete information. Standard operating procedures, operational details, and key features—all of it is crucial, yet difficult to sift through without a clear strategy. To combat this chaos, the engineer developed a specific system consisting of four knowledge buckets. Understanding these categories and utilizing them from day one can transform your speed of learning and set you years ahead of peers who are still unpacking a single folder of notes.

“Don’t treat all knowledge the same way. Depending on what type it is, you want to do different things with it.”

Bucket One: Factual Knowledge

This first bucket represents the “what” in your new role: names, purposes, and roles. It’s essential to separate facts you need to keep in your working memory from reference facts you can look up later.

• Working Memory Facts: Quick-access information you review daily, such as team names, core goals, or primary stakeholders. For example, noting that the “Payments Team” handles both refunds and authorizations ensures you won’t confuse your teams in conversation.
• Reference Facts: Details you rarely need on the spot, like specific error codes or internal ticketing URLs. Instead of overloading your brain, capture these in a searchable log.

By structuring your notes this way, you avoid trying to memorize hundreds of trivial details. You focus only on immediate essentials and offload the rest. Review your working memory section every morning until those facts become second nature. If there’s critical terminology you must recall flawlessly, consider using a spaced-repetition tool like Anki to accelerate memorization with digital flashcards.

Bucket Two: Procedural Knowledge

Procedural knowledge answers the “how.” These are the step-by-step processes—standard operating procedures, build-and-release checklists, or incident-response playbooks. Procedural details aren’t meant for passive reading; they demand practice.
The fastest way to learn a process is to dive in: volunteer to shadow someone on call or request to run the deployment under supervision. For instance, a new engineer might say, “I’d like to shadow the on-call rotation this week. Better yet, can I drive while you watch?” This hands-on approach converts abstract SOPs into muscle memory. Within a few triggers and feedback loops, you’ll be proficient far sooner than if you simply read pages of documentation.

Bucket Three: Conceptual Knowledge

Conceptual knowledge is your mental whiteboard. It illustrates how all parts of your system interconnect, capturing the essence rather than every minute detail. Use simple diagrams with boxes and arrows to map data flows, dependencies, and critical interfaces.

• Draw core components as labeled boxes.
• Connect them with arrows—“sends data to,” “depends on,” or “triggers.”
• Aim for no more than 12 boxes. If you exceed that, you’re drowning in minutiae; group related elements into higher-level abstractions.

Conceptual models reveal that most systems follow common architectural patterns: all ordering systems ingest, match, and fulfill; all search platforms index, query, and rank. By recognizing these patterns, you reuse your mental templates rather than starting from scratch. When you meet an expert, show them your diagram and invite corrections. They’ll gladly refine your high-level view, sharpening your understanding faster than any manual ever could.

Bucket Four: Questions

Questions are a powerful knowledge bucket because they highlight what you don’t know and track how your understanding evolves. Whenever you encounter uncertainty, jot down the question rather than muddled notes. Later, mark it as answered but never delete it.
Over time, you’ll build a breadcrumb trail of basic to advanced queries. Early on, you might ask, “What does this API endpoint return?” Weeks later, you’ll be probing, “How does rate limiting behave during high-traffic events?” Reviewing answered questions surfaces patterns and helps onboard the next newcomer. Plus, if you ever create a guide or a presentation, organizing around these questions turns your content into a natural FAQ.

Tools to Enhance Your Learning Process

Having the right tools can streamline your four-bucket system. A modern project management platform like Linear reduces cognitive overhead so you can focus on learning, not wrestling with menus. At Amazon, complex internal tools often distract from actual work. Linear’s intuitive design lets you set workflows, define milestones, and link tasks in minutes, not hours.
By mapping your buckets directly in your notes and tying actionable items into Linear tickets, you maintain clarity across documentation, tasks, and conversations. This integrated approach ensures your buckets stay alive and relevant rather than stale files on a desktop.

Conclusion: Accelerate Your Learning Journey

Getting up to speed in a new environment doesn’t have to feel like drinking from a firehose. By organizing your learning into four distinct buckets—factual, procedural, conceptual, and questions—you’ll dramatically reduce overwhelm and boost retention.

• Actionable Takeaway: Start your next onboarding by creating four note sections labeled Facts, Procedure, Concepts, and Questions.

With this system, you’re not just surviving the learning curve—you’re owning it. The faster you structure your knowledge, the sooner you’ll move from “new person” to trusted contributor. Are you ready to transform your approach to learning and leave that steep curve behind?