As a Computer Engineering student, times of troubleshooting and confusion often surround my journey of constant learning. Being completely honest, I grew into the habit of asking questions as a quick way of receiving an answer in the early years of my education career as a child. However, as I grew older, I have been able to grow out of the habit of being initially dependent on others to find solutions to my problems. I have learned to troubleshoot on my own through research, where Google really can be your best friend at times, while also trying multitudes of different approaches until a solution comes along. As a student who enjoys the power of programming and software development, I have developed a love for the satisfying feeling of resolving an issue through self-efficiency while maintaining a healthy standpoint in regards to collaboration and dependency with other developers.
Along with the concept of lifelong learning and being a student, I have constantly heard mentors, teachers, and other experienced individuals say that “there are no such things as wrong or stupid questions”. As I believe that the statement is technically correct, I also believe that there is a “wrong” way of asking questions in terms of general efficiency for curious individuals. Learned from reading an essay called “How To Ask Questions The Smart Way” by Eric Steven Raymond, the beginning of asking bad questions generally starts with the lack of self-sufficiency. Referring to a question from StackOverflow that is based on multiple instance jquery functions, as the curious individual clearly needs help resolving the issue of finding multiple instances of a function running, the question has not been asked in a smart manner. Although code has been displayed for a closer look into the individual’s situation, the question lacked insight regarding attempts of resolution. Due to this, the response given by another developer starts with directions to refer to bootstrap 4 documentation where examples can be found regarding the encountered issue. As this pointed the curious individual to the path of resolution, it proves that a solution could have been found by the individual’s own doing if they had referred to the documentation beforehand.
All-in-all, it may always be best to attempt resolutions on your own before asking questions as the answer might be right under your nose. However, there is no need to be afraid to ask questions. As long as you try your best in the journey of troubleshooting, whether you have found resolution or not, the time of both parties involved in the asking and answering of the question will not be wasted as honest effort has been done. On a more encouraging note, teamwork makes the dream work.
Now onto “smart” questions, provided background information, possible snippets of code, various scenarios of troubleshooting, and a clear question is always welcome. In conjunction with the previous section of this essay where the “wrong” way of asking questions was discussed, the “smart” way simply demonstrates an individual’s own effort to resolve their encountered issue. Referring once again to StackOverflow, another curious user asked a question regarding the removal of newline characters in csv columns where they have been encountering the issue of having displayed newline characters in data cells. By stating the different methods that have been attempted to attain a solution and displaying their efforts along with received outcomes, the question received multiple answers that did not simply direct the curious individual to documentation that can be found online. Instead, the answers to the question included snippets of code along with step-by-step instructions on how to achieve a solution. Not only did the curious individual receive answers that were far from cookie cutter, the individual may have also received extra bits of knowledge from receiving such detailed answers.
To be successful in asking smart and proper questions, it is important to understand the issue at hand to the most of your ability. Especially as sofware developers and engineers, do not give up so quickly when troubleshooting as you may gain new bits of knowledge along the way. However, when it comes time to asking for help, know that when you help others efficiently understand your question and standpoint, you are also helping yourself by paving yourself a path to helpful responses and hopefully, resolution as well.