# Do These Things Before you Join Teams

## Observing Before Joining Teams

Community members start engaging in the community by watching other teams work. This helps people  see cross-functional teams in action, making decisions and dealing with real-world constraints. Before you join project training and volunteer work, we highly encourage you to become an observer. 

{% content-ref url="/pages/BbMR0StqCuWcosa5T8xj" %}
[Observer Handbook](/observer-portal/observer-handbook.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Getting Discord Roles for Teammate Work

Our community in Discord is set up based on Discord Roles. These allow you to control what you see and what you get notified by based on what you want to do in the community. We've put together a lot of tutorials for community members to learn how to get the proper permissions and roles in our Discord. Check out the tutorials below to add yourself to new project-related roles. 

{% content-ref url="/pages/2UZgAcBqMu2NcffNSf7A" %}
[How to Get Discord Roles in Tech Fleet](/start-here/get-started/how-to-get-discord-roles-in-tech-fleet.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

## Head to the Next Lesson


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# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://guide.techfleet.org/team-portal/new-teammate-handbook/expectations-for-teammates/do-these-things-before-you-join-teams.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.