Asking For Help Correctly
06 Sep 2023
Smart questions are hard
Within the world of software engineering, oftentimes many run into issues that one can’t solve alone. People face these obstacles, with only one solution in mind, to ask for help. The ability to be more precise and insightful can mean the difference between hours of frustration and a functioning code. Thus, it is an important skill to learn how to ask for proper help and to avoid asking questions that only lead to more problems. When asking a question there are many things taken into consideration, whether your question is simple enough for a Google search to describe the steps that you took that resulted into your issues. All these things are considered when asking a smart question.
How to ask a question correctly
One example of a smart question that I ran into while going through StackOverflow, was a question asking how to create a code/procedure that will solve a Sudoku. This was asked just recently with tagged r, backtracking, and algorithm with prior activity by the user. They first stated that they were working with the R programming language and they provided the sudoku that they were trying to solve. He then states his possible solution by stating the two functions he thinks the code needs to do. He provides the first function and how it tries to find a valid choice for a given row or column and then the second function that checks for any violations within a vector. For each of these functions he mentions, he provides a code. Finally, he finishes his request by clearly stating his question of how he can use these functions together to backtrack through a sudoku.
Although this question only managed to gather 3 answers, each answer was able to provide the user with a proper solution, followed by example codes that meet his guidelines. With all that being said, the user’s question was formatted perfectly as he clearly stated his issues and even provided his thought process of possible solutions. He gave enough information so that the people trying to help him knew exactly what they needed to do to guide the user through a solution. This is the link to the question.
How to ask a question incorrectly
On the other hand, I also came across some questions that were far from perfect, especially a question that had issues with installing the Python library. This question was also asked just recently and the only thing they mentioned was that they couldn’t install the Python library, they were a novice, and they left their results from the Python interpreter when they tried “installing the library.” Mind you that this is what I was only able to interpret from his question, as his question had incomplete sentences and a lot of spelling errors. This is the link to the question.
This would be considered as a not-so-smart question as there was a lack of effort in trying to find a solution before asking this question, as a simple Google search would have helped him. He lacked the effort to troubleshoot his issues as he was trying to run a console command as if it were a Python script. Furthermore, this question lacked any specific information. He only mentioned what he was trying to do was not working and the error message that was showing up. He didn’t provide any context or information so that a person could draw up a solution. Overall, the lack of information and effort this question had, is what makes this question far from perfect.
Smart questions are helpful
These experiences of learning how to ask smart questions made me learn the importance of being precious and detailed with what I want to communicate. I learned that if I ask a dumb question, I’ll get a dumb answer, and thus it’s crucial to learn how to ask smart questions so I get a smart answer. In addition, a concept that I learned from this is that it’s key to just give enough information. I thought it was fine to be as detailed and provide as much information when asking a question, however, that isn’t always the case. It’s better to ask a question that is very precious with just the right amount of information, rather than a question that has too much information to the point that it gets confusing. Overall, I learned that when it comes to asking questions, precision and balance of information are essential for insightful responses.