How and when to ask for help

Quite an important topic. More important since we work remote more often.

What to do when you’re stuck or have a question about something?

This is no definitive guide, but it might help get you your answers.

First 30 minutes

It helps if you try to phrase your question as if you’d explain the situation to a co-worker. Sometimes, just structuring your thoughts gets you the answer by yourself.

If not, at least you try ask Google. Spend 15 to 30 minutes on finding the answer online, through Google or StackOverflow.

If it ain’t an important problem, and you have other work to do, why not put aside the issue for now and work on something else. The solution might present itself while your subconscious is processing it.

Next steps

Consider asking a co-worker in the office or on Discord/Mattermost. Spending more time on it yourself is probably increasing frustration and wasting more time. There’s an optimal balance to find between search for the answer yourself and asking time from someone else to get you ahead.

Make sure you provide context as your colleague is probably not up to speed on the details. Having all the information helps (e.g. push your code to a branch if you want someone to help you along with the code, so your can refer to your branch). What also helps is narrowing down the scope of your problem.

Sometimes making a minimal example of the code showing the problem helps you find the solution after all, (as it turns out the problem was somewhere else) or providing a co-worker a clear view of the issue without surrounding code. Isolating the problem is usually worth the effort.

Still no answer? Try the co-workers outside your direct team, through our generic Mattermost channels like #javascript or #python. I’d like to encourage everyone to idle there and try to help your co-workers along.

Still no answer? Let’s schedule a one on one call to try and find a way to get you unstuck.