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Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bingo - just constantly asking relatively trivial beginner's questions will quickly make any busy senior lose patience. Key is to be somewhere in the middle - trying to understand, but needing that extra glue to make sense of the facts.
Collect your questions, research them yourselves, come with the bundle.. when im obviously not concentrated or it really holds up your work.
Please 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…
I've read "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" by ESR when I was young. It had a rather big impact on me. Of course now I realize people who need the message won't read it.
I'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…
If you're the unfirable 10X rockstar LC awesome dev, this is how you make your org healthier.
Please 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…
Even then, if you did that but want more context, that's not stupid.
I'm still surprised how much I need to Google for others...
I 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."
There definitely are stupid question that shows the person asking them was too lazy to think for a moment or at least google it. If people do not value my time, they are not worthy of it.
But yes, it is important to seperate that from beginners question, as it is easy to forget, that we all started as beginners.
Just 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.
One thing he did: ask questions he already knew the answers to on big meetings
I initially thought he had a bad memory. Instead, he was thinking like a new hire. What would a college hire want explained right now?
And you’re also right, once someone with sway has asked a question - and been met with an honest answer - it makes it easier for others to do the same
Please 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…
You need to welcome questions even from people who have apparently done no research at all, or juniors will always worry that you'll accuse them of not doing the "necessary" work up front. If you're kind and approachable, and you don't tell people off for failing to meet your minimum requirements, you can guide them to finding it themselves.
I'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.
But you're not going to get there if you're being death rolled by a crocodile in the middle of the river. My point is not to not ask stupid questions. My point is to dip your toe in the water and see what happens instead of cannon-balling.
Please 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…
Or they think they understand the answer, but really don’t, and end up making a mess.
Basically, true beginners do best with a mentor.