I would like to think that I am independent. However, it seems like I am not independent across all contexts. I can be independent when it comes to making my own decisions, but not so much when it comes to learning by doing. This brings to mind the stereotypical feminist saying, “I’m a strong and independent women.” Yet someone like that would enjoyed it if her man, who is often the breadwinner, support and dote on her. Does it mean she’s not independent or are we mistaking her preference for reliance? Is this epistemological question even useful? Probably not.
It’s no wonder why some people are afraid of asking questions because that could very well be an invitation to ridicule and embarrassment. You may seem like a noob too if you all you do is ask questions and don’t answer any. What is a good question? Can you ask questions that are the fundamental requirements of a job?
In the context of learning, a good question is one that satisfies your curiosity. In the context of a job, a good question should be built on the basic blocks of prior knowledge and serves to advance the frontier of knowledge. For example, let’s compare two questions: “what is an application programming interface (API)” and “what does this API do”. The latter is a better question than the former since it advances the prior knowledge to do something useful with it. If you observe carefully, you’ll find that most of the advanced moves are composed of the basic ones. I’d go out on a limp and propose the same for theories as well.
“Don’t tell me you spent the whole day to do it?”
“No lah I spent a while only”
The above is an actual dialogue that took place. One of them shrugged it off and downplayed the amount of time he took. It’s fair to say the job doesn’t pay you to learn; I’ve known people who are able to deliver (with some struggle) yet they still stumble upon simple UI changes because they don’t understand the concepts behind it. The situation is made worse when he (you know it’s a he) doesn’t ask for help because of the misplaced incentives.
The Software Engineers (SEs) are too atomised and occupied with delivering than teaching and helping each other. When the downside is immediate and the upside is beyond the horizon, the SE are disincentivized from asking questions and learning. Employee retention falls and turnover increases.
I think advices like “don’t be afraid of making a mistake” all boils down to making it inexpensive and reducing the harm. Small doses of stress helps the organism become anti-fragile. The key is having a small dosage and rest time for the organism to grow and become stronger.
I think this has to do with my confidence level. I feel like it’s definitely helpful to get assurance from a senior to check if you’re on the right direction. I don’t think it should be seen as a weakness, especially in a team setting. After all we’re all in this together, why play the blame game?
Last updated: 25 July 2021