Let me illustrate two scenarios from my earliest days of playing so you’ll understand why I asked that question.

(A) During my very first week of playing, some members of a PvP corp (Sardaukar Merc Guild) flew through the Career Agent system I was running missions in and asked if any newbies were interested in going on a lowsec roam. I jumped at the opportunity, and they gave me a bit of ISK and a quick run-through on fitting a Slasher for tackle. I managed during this roam, mostly by luck, to catch up to and pin down a blingy kiting Omen Navy Issue that had been whittling us down at range. Our little gang caught up because I’d tackled him and they ate him alive. My little dinky frigate and less-than-a-week’s woth of experience and SP were instrumental in securing that particular kill.

(B) I’d been flying a Crucifier and my FW gang had a Pilgrim tackled . His friends had warped in and were pounding our tackle at range, attempting to free their friend. I used my double turret disruptors to cut their range significantly. We got the Pilgrim and got one of the dumb Confessor pilots that had moved in closer to get within his reduced effective range. I didn’t do damage but I protected my tackle and got my gang a Confessor kill that would never have happened otherwise.

You can easily have an impact as a newer player, it just depends on the context and, more importantly, what you yourself perceive yo be a meaningful and satisfying contribution.