“Never let your ego get in the way of asking for help when in desperate need. We have all been helped at a point in our lives.” – Edmond Mbiaka
Developers often don’t ask for help soon enough. They sit and spin their tires determined to try to prove they can solve the problem themselves without any help. This can lead to shoddy code, wasted time, and frustration. This feeling can likely be traced back to the imposter syndrome that most developers feel no matter which stage of their career. That itching feeling that everyone knows that you have no clue what you are doing, that you don’t belong here, and if they find out that you can’t solve everything, fast and perfectly you might get fired. The truth is, everyone struggles and the most successful developers know where to find that line between a valiant attempt to solve a problem, and stubborn time-wasting out of fear and pride.
Asking for help is not only good for you and solving the problem that is impacting the progress. It is also a valuable experience for the person whom you ask. The process of explaining the problem and finding a solution forces both of you to think deeply about how the system works to communicate it clearly.
While we teach, we learn. – Seneca
The Roman philosopher Seneca said, “While we teach we learn”. This is what is known as the Protege effect. A study was conducted that found that students who tutored were more inclined to learn and retain knowledge at a higher rate than those who did not. Obviously, we can’t ask for everyone to go out and find an apprentice like in olden times to teach the craft to. However, We find ways to teach through other means: Pair Programming, Blogging, making videos, journaling and tutoring.
However, when you do ask for help it is important to keep a few things in mind. Asking for help can’t just be about you relying solely on the other person to fix your problem. It is still your responsibility to contribute, ask questions along the way. Ask for explanations of how the system works, why your attempts didn’t work, and how you could have approached the problem better in the future. There is nothing worse than someone saying they need help than sitting in silence or on their phone next to you while you complete their task. It is very reminiscent of school group projects when the one person doesn’t help and just adds their name to the title slide. Don’t be that guy.
So don’t be afraid to reach out for help. Most of the time people will happily help you because it validates them in their own position in the field. Knowing someone comes to you for an answer makes you feel solidified and helps push down those feelings of imposter syndrome.
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