Just ask questions, period. Something seem strange about the stack you just inherited? Ask why. Sometimes simply raising the question can be a catalyst for change.
Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
11–20 of 87 posts
Re: Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
#12Please ask me any question, regardless of how dumb you think it will make you look, after you've spent at least 5 minutes trying to answer it yourself. Bonus Points if you summarize your quick research efforts. Extra Bonus Points if this leads to more questions. (Caveat emptor: _many_ engineers are decidedly antisocial, but if you show that you did prior research before asking, you're showing to them that you value t…
> Bonus Points if you summarize your quick research efforts.
Careful with that step: you might answer your own question.
Re: Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
#13Please ask me any question, regardless of how dumb you think it will make you look, after you've spent at least 5 minutes trying to answer it yourself. Bonus Points if you summarize your quick research efforts. Extra Bonus Points if this leads to more questions. (Caveat emptor: _many_ engineers are decidedly antisocial, but if you show that you did prior research before asking, you're showing to them that you value t…
> Bonus Points if you summarize your quick research efforts. Careful with that step: you might answer your own question.
The best rubber duck debugging is when the rubber duck solves it before you hit enter.
Re: Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
#14I'm going to take the contrarian perspective from this. People absolutely will judge you for stupid questions and you need to be careful about asking them. Dip your toe in the water and see what happens.
Actually, that's good advice for all of these types of articles (and it seems like we've had a bull run on 'ask dumb questions'). Organizations are fucked up. Bosses/People are assholes. The wildebeast that goes first in the river takes the biggest risk of being eaten. Watch and learn before taking the leap.
Re: Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
#15To be honest, ask stupid questions even as an experienced developer! We all have brain farts, and don’t know everything!
Absolutely. There is no magic point in your career where you know everything. Plus, it fosters a culture of asking. And often you’re not the only one in the room who doesn’t know. Often asking a stupid question like „I don’t know that word - Can you explain?“ will prompt further questions from other people.
Re: Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
#16The job interview hell that we go through these days selects for people unwilling to do this.
It's true. People are visibly surprised at times when you shrug and say "no idea, but I can figure it out". It certainly helps if you can buttress it with analogies to other problems and tools, but not knowing things is fine and normal.
I don't work places where that attitude isn't welcomed, and you shouldn't either.
Re: Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
#17I ask "stupid" questions all the time, and I haven't been a new software developer for decades.
Don't like it? Think I'm stupid? Go ahead. It's a free country. Think what you like. Whatever creams your twinkie.
I'd say an important attached property of this "rule," is "Don't treat any question as 'stupid.'"
That way, we don't become what is known in the vernacular as "assholes."
Re: Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
#18Just as important: ask "stupid" questions if you're a Lead or a Principal or whatever. First, you don't know everything, no one does. Second, it makes it easier for the Junior devs to ask their questions.
We had a rule during apprenticeship that we would would ask questions if we saw that a fellow was struggling to comprehend - and was too slow / shy to ask on their own, even if we already understood. We would ask these questions as stupidly as possible (within reasonable boundaries, of course) to make the teacher not just repeat what they already said but to make them find another way to explain it. That's when I learned that ego has no place in learning.
Re: Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
#19Co-opting an idea from Daniel Dennett: try to always have a junior developer around so when senior engineers are talking past each other and no one’s pride will allow them to ask the basic questions that could clear things up, there’s someone there to do it.
Re: Ask stupid questions as a new software developer
#20I'm going to take the contrarian perspective from this. People absolutely will judge you for stupid questions and you need to be careful about asking them. Dip your toe in the water and see what happens. Actually, that's good advice for all of these types of articles (and it seems like we've had a bull run on 'ask dumb questions'). Organizations are fucked up. Bosses/People are assholes. The wildebeast that goes firs…
You're not wrong, but, the faster you get out of that organization (or into a healthier part of that organization), the faster you'll start growing. An organization that penalizes asking questions is almost certainly broken in other ways that you'll discover soon, and you'll be in a worse position when you're interviewing for your next job.