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Fellow government attorney here. Do good work and be kind to everyone in your office. Ask questions of the more experienced attorneys and receive criticism graciously.
There are budget cuts recently so that makes me nervous.
Fake it till you make it? Jk. I think be proactive and be reliable is good enough. It just takes time. And they know your experience level when they hire you.
Don’t feel bad about it. Being the “kid” means often that people will look at your work and try to give you pointers or explain how things work. Learn as much as you can. Confidence comes from diligent repetition.
The fact that you’re this self-aware probably means you’re just fine 😊
Rising Star
2 years isn’t the at much time to gain even sophomore standing. Just sit tight and do good work. You’ll mature in your role and stature over time.
Stay the course - eventually others will leave or retire and you will, over time, go from being the youngest and least experienced to the oldest and most experienced. Along the way continue to show that you are trustworthy and reliable regardless of where you are in either age or experience on the team. In time, your confidence will also grow. It can take 2 years just to get the lay of the land. I’d say you are doing just fine.
As a government guy who is the senior member of his team, I wills say that you should ask yourself two questions. 1) Do I handle my own shit without having to be coached every second and 2) if so, do I maybe have a little imposter syndrome?
The surest way to show that you are a trusted mature member of the team is to do the work assigned to you without mistake and without having to ask someone constantly how to do it. I have an associate who is very new to our area of the law. When I don't hear from her, it's because she feels like she's mastered the task. I occasionally check to see if she has, but that mostly involves going to court and watching her performance. Generally her impression of how ready she is to cut the apron strings is accurate, or she's underestimating herself and she was ready before she actually does it.
I'm going to guess what you do isn't life or death and you aren't being assigned tasks that are going to cripple the government if you fuck them up. Boldly tackle your current assignments and everyone will assume you're ready for the next step. If you make a mistake, learn from it.
This is the way.
There will be a day when you aren't the kid anymore, enjoy being able to ask stupid questions at this stage!
You are the kid on the block. Nothing wrong with that. Takes at least 5 years, IMO, to be considered an integral part. Continue to learn from those ahead of you, do your job to the best of your ability, ask for feedback but not so much you look insecure. Ask for feedback on the nuances to round out your knowledge.