Was just about to say this. As a staff engineer your position is (or should be!) so secure that you can get away with asking all sorts of “dumb” questions that more junior engineers don’t want to ask. I will also regularly say things in meetings like “I don’t understand, can you take us through that again” or “can you remind me how <xyz thing> works?”. Sometimes this makes the difference between a meeting being useful and everyone just being confused but afraid to say so.
In an ideal world, juniors would all do this too, but I don’t blame them if they don’t. So it’s very important to do it if you have the social capital.
In an ideal world, juniors would all do this too, but I don’t blame them if they don’t. So it’s very important to do it if you have the social capital.