Okay, likely to say this in longer form later, but...
I think the main image to carry, when starting as the new coder in an existing, high-functioning development team, is this....
You're a five year old and you walk up to the already spinning carousel in the playground
You run around and keep trying to jump on, but whatever it is that's spinning that carousel is doing their job well. :) Ya kinda have to keep running and hope that you eventually hit a velocity that will let you join the team at speed.