There's value in asking questions of our fellow programmers. We tend to overlook asking questions fearing that we're going to ask something obvious or ask a question that will make us feel inadequate for asking. Asking questions is very useful when we don't understand what is going on with an idea or a particular piece of code. There are programmers out there who don't mind answering questions, and my hope is that you find them. Granted there are some programmers who are very busy and might not have the time or inclination to answer our questions. But if we are truly stuck and have exhausted all other avenues perhaps we can ask questions of them that don't require much of their time and effort and we can both be happy for the interaction. They may even be grateful for the question because it gives them insights into a perspective they might not otherwise have. When we ask questions we initiate a sharing of ideas in both directions.
There is an art to asking questions and it can be frustrating when folks don't answer our questions or come back with other questions / suggestions that are less than helpful. This manifests itself in exchanges where person A asks: "I'd like to know how to do X" and persons B and C respond "I would do Y instead". It's frustrating when folks won't answer our questions directly. It's also easy to get embroiled in exchanges with folks about the merits of doing Y where clearly I had intended to do X all along, thank you very much. But if we re-frame the experience as "this person is trying to help me; perhaps there is something in this recommendation that might be helpful." then we can have a better conversation. Perhaps what we're asking isn't the best way to do something and pausing to listen may help us better understand why they suggested what they did.
Pulling our ego out of the question allows us to be more open to the answers we receive. When people don't understand our question it becomes easy to take it personally and re-frame it as "they're not understanding me" or "they're not listening to me". Pulling ourselves out of the question allows us to take the answer at it's merits and gives us the ability to change the question as needed.
There's value in asking questions of our fellow programmers. We tend to overlook asking questions fearing that we're going to ask something obvious or ask a question that will make us feel inadequate for asking. Asking questions is very useful when we don't understand what is going on with an idea or a particular piece of code. There are programmers out there who don't mind answering questions, and my hope is that you find them. Granted there are some programmers who are very busy and might not have the time or inclination to answer our questions. But if we are truly stuck and have exhausted all other avenues perhaps we can ask questions of them that don't require much of their time and effort and we can both be happy for the interaction. They may even be grateful for the question because it gives them insights into a perspective they might not otherwise have. When we ask questions we initiate a sharing of ideas in both directions.
There is an art to asking questions and it can be frustrating when folks don't answer our questions or come back with other questions / suggestions that are less than helpful. This manifests itself in exchanges where person A asks: "I'd like to know how to do X" and persons B and C respond "I would do Y instead". It's frustrating when folks won't answer our questions directly. It's also easy to get embroiled in exchanges with folks about the merits of doing Y where clearly I had intended to do X all along, thank you very much. But if we re-frame the experience as "this person is trying to help me; perhaps there is something in this recommendation that might be helpful." then we can have a better conversation. Perhaps what we're asking isn't the best way to do something and pausing to listen may help us better understand why they suggested what they did.
Pulling our ego out of the question allows us to be more open to the answers we receive. When people don't understand our question it becomes easy to take it personally and re-frame it as "they're not understanding me" or "they're not listening to me". Pulling ourselves out of the question allows us to take the answer at it's merits and gives us the ability to change the question as needed.