Asking for help VS Solving issues alone

[bjdhjy888]

 
Though I agree solving problems alone makes a man out of a boy, troubleshooting hardware or debugging software all by oneself can be depressive.

For beginners, it would be very unnatural for him to solve issues without asking other people, yet, this person grows the quickest.

On the other hand, people should learn to ask. The way he prepares his question and communicates with people can be important. He will not be helped unless he knows the proper way to ask.

So the tradeoff between asking and being alone looks kindda confusing to me.

What do you think?

[Chriss]

I think asking is always a better option.
But it depends on the person.
Many people's are thinking does they know everything and if they would ask for help his/her reputation will fall down.

There are also people's who just won't learn but they are wish to get everything finished on the table, so to say they wish does some other people finish his job.

I'm personally like to ask questions even if know 100% sure what can be the answer. The cos I'm asking is to share whit what I deal right now and to learn. To check how other persons are thinking and maybe something new come out from my question.

And for me the most important think asking a question is, to be a part of a community what is a nice feeling.
And of course, I also like to give answer and help if I know.

Conclusion:
Asking the right way at the right moment is a way to grow...

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[dzseki]

I use a mix of these, either I spend some time investigate the case and then ask or ask first and based on the answers I go thinking about other solutions.
One thing for sure formulating the right questions usualy gets me closer to the solution, sometimes so much that I don't even have to ask in the end.

[m98]

It depends on the subject. Especially for troubleshooting, by getting to the point where I can ask the right questions, I can answer them myself. But the process is quicker when more people look at the same problem, especially when its a simple oversight.

[fourfathom]

Sometimes I learn a lot when I work through a puzzling problem by myself.  I like that.  Sometimes getting outside help and comment will show me a better way to do something, or help me get through a personal brick wall.  I like that too.  I'm sufficiently confident in myself that I don't mind asking "stupid" questions.  Well, not "stupid" exactly -- there's a difference between ignorance and stupidity, and we are all ignorant in some areas.  I try not to be stupid.

[sokoloff]

I think learning how to ask questions well is important.

We see some posters on here who fire off their first thoughts, with incomplete info, and a "whaddya think?!" and then 6 minutes later follow up with another nugget of info and two more questions, then start another thread 8 minutes later with a followup question that can only be answered by reference to info obliquely mentioned in the first thread...

Take a few minutes to compose your thoughts. Maybe explain the problem to a teddy bear. Then post with enough background info (and full source code, or a minimally reproducing case, if it's a programming question). Makes it much easier to get help and I think helps you learn along the way as well.

[Nominal Animal]

To me, the answer is obvious: Ask for advice on methods for solving the problem at hand, instead of a solution to the problem at hand.  That way you can learn more than you might if you just went at it alone.

Consider, for example, my own experience in a recent thread on microcontroller ADC calibration.  We talk about the problem and suggest solutions on it.  However, after re-reading the thread, I realized that explicitly describing the method I was using to find the solutions I suggested, would be worth way more than any of my suggestions: this.  None of my other posts in that thread actually help that much, but knowing the method on how to find answers to such problems is definitely useful.

This means that instead of asking "Should I use a crimped or a soldered connection for this?", one should try to find out "When should I use crimped connections, and when to solder them?".  In practice, you start with the first question, but when you get an answer, you explore the basis of that answer, and find out the logic of how they arrived at that answer.  I often do this myself, and I do claim it works well.

[GreyWoolfe]

While the discovery is fun in and of itself, there are times when help is quite useful. On my job, we deal with 3 hour SLA's.  Between lost time for travel, there is usually very little time for troubleshooting/repair. If the problem is something I haven't seen before and I can't quite wrap my mind around a solution/starting point, I will talk to a couple of my fellow techs and see if they have run into the problem or something similar to give me a starting point to ponder while driving to the site.

Now, when the equipment is sitting on my workbench and I don't have a SLA looming over me, the game is afoot.

[jadew]

Asking questions is fine, as long as you have some limits. Interrupting people with random questions gets old fast.

[james_s]

I usually bang on something until
I get stuck to the point of being frustrated and then ask. It's good to struggle a bit, but struggle too hard and you can burn out.

[Red Squirrel]

I think it's good to try alone first but if you run into an issue, or you are really not sure if your way of solving it is right, then it's good to ask.

I hate when people are arrogant though and just say "I found this on google in 5 seconds".  Easy for them to say when they know about the subject and knew what to search for!

[Chriss]

I agree with you absolutely.

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[FreddieChopin]

Adolf Hitler once said: strong man is strongest when he's alone. I'm the only embedded systems guy in about 100-man strong software development company and that's my way of working.

Anyway, who should I socialize with? Underpaid and underqualified C#/SQL code monkeys? Borderline retarded QA teams doing "tests" just to spam customer with meaningless pages of "documentation"? Or maybe those cocksnots doing Android "apps" - oh hell no!

[fourfathom]

Adolf Hitler once said: strong man is strongest when he's alone. I'm the only embedded systems guy in about 100-man strong software development company and that's my way of working.

Anyway, who should I socialize with? Underpaid and underqualified C#/SQL code monkeys? Borderline retarded QA teams doing "tests" just to spam customer with meaningless pages of "documentation"? Or maybe those cocksnots doing Android "apps" - oh hell no!

This post is a true work of art.  Sincere congratulations!

[Chriss]

The best writing!
Congrats!! :-)

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[admiralk]

I think learning how to ask questions well is important.

On a forum, or something similar, this could not be more true. I have often answered my own questions by simply formulating a good question and providing al the details.

At work, I often ask questions about procedures because I am uncertain if my solution is the best to take. This is usually because I am hoping to get an answer that will speed up, or simplify, my solution. My supervisor eventually stopped hiding from me when he realized my intent and noticed that I could keep up with two man teams by myself. :-)

There is also a difference between asking for help and asking for an answer.

[ElectronicSupersonic]

On the other hand, people should learn to ask. The way he prepares his question and communicates with people can be important. He will not be helped unless he knows the proper way to ask.

Google couldn't agree more

[GreyWoolfe]

There is also a difference between asking for help and asking for an answer.

Truer words were never spoken.