In the process of program development, we often encounter problems that make people scratch their heads. How to ask for help, especially from experienced developers, is a craft worth learning. This is not just simply throwing out questions, but learning when to ask for help, how to ask questions, how to understand answers, and how to summarize experience.
The troubles we may face are: sometimes we feel that we ask for help too early, but we easily throw it to others when we should go to Google by ourselves; Solved the problem, but stubbornly pondered for a full 8 hours.
Image source: CSDN Mingming Ruyue senior
Based on my experience, I have come up with a set of strategies for seeking help myself:
- Set a time limit for myself: If I spend less than 30 minutes on a problem, I don't ask for help. If it takes more than 60 minutes to resolve a problem, then by all means seek help.
- Make full use of search engines and AI tools: When using search engines, be sure to try different search keywords, understand the question deeply, and don't let possible answers be missed by you in the search engine. In the age of AI, one must learn to use AI tools. It used to take hours to solve problems by oneself, but now with the help of AI, it can be solved in a few minutes or even ten minutes.
- Problem localization: Locate the problem to the smallest code fragment as much as possible, reduce irrelevant information, and make the problem easier to understand.
- Articulate the problem clearly: what did you expect and what did it actually turn out; what did you try and what possibilities did you rule out. Phrasing it this way can help you and others better understand the problem.
- Find the right person: find the most suitable (not the most convenient) person to help you solve the problem, this may be your colleague, or it may be an expert on the Internet.
- Be patient: Make sure they are available and willing to answer questions, then don't hesitate to ask!
- Fully understand the answer: Before acknowledging, make sure you fully understand the answer. If there is something unclear, don't be afraid to trouble, just point it out.
- Take Note and Reflect: Note down what the question was so you don't have to ask it again. At the same time, we must also reflect on the generation and resolution process of this problem, sum up experience, and prevent the same mistakes from happening again.
Learning to ask a senior developer for help can really build up your self-dependence, because knowing the answer is only a few steps away gives you tremendous confidence to keep trying. Remember, being good at asking questions is just as important as being good at answering them, both skills required to be a senior engineer.
This article is based on: https://80hd.dev/how-to-ask-for-help-from-a-senior-developer-and-get-it/#more-102 Adapted.