In my first security role I asked what I thought was a basic question in a team channel. The reply was a screenshot of my message with a laughing emoji, shared to a wider group. After that I stopped asking. I would spend hours stuck on things I could have solved in minutes, because being slow felt safer than being mocked.
It was only when a senior analyst noticed and quietly offered to be my go to person that things changed. She never made me feel small for not knowing. Within a few months I was the one answering questions for the next new starter, and I made a promise to answer them the way she had answered mine.
