- Report this article
Patricia E. Miguel
Patricia E. Miguel
Software Engineer
Published Apr 12, 2022
+ Follow
I was hesitating about whether to post this as an article or not, since it's just something from my own experience. But maybe it helps someone else.
I started a new path as a back-end developer not long ago, and of course every task is a challenge (as I was expecting it to be). So I find myself asking for help often, after spending some time trying to solve the thing by myself to no avail. And I usually don't understand 100% of what I do but I'm ok with it, as I knew it was part of the deal when I decided to start this new career.
But I also found that something that works for me is to focus on questions. Making questions is a GREAT way to learn. It's not always about answers. Questions help you organize information and know when and where something needs to be done. So I like to think about what questions I could have asked that would have led me to an answer to whatever problem I was having. This is a "post-mortem" process: it usually comes after spending a long time digging into code without getting it to work, or after asking for someone else's help. So the priority is to get the problem sorted out and to make things work. But then I try to analyze how I could have found a solution had I known exactly where to look. Usually that's an "a-ha!" moment where I realize I've learned something new.
Let me explain: from my years as a teacher I noticed that usually, when someone is a bit lost and needs assistance, the problem is that they don't know exactly what questions to ask. And that's perfectly fine and normal (if you knew what question to ask, you'd probably just google it or search for the answer somewhere instead of asking someone else to take a look at what you're doing). If you're not too familiar with whatever you're working on, then you won't really grasp all the bits and details and that will lead to "blanks" and to information being "scattered" in your mind. That's the usual state where we find ourselves when we start learning something, and it's good to keep it in mind and not stress about it. So the goal is now to put all the pieces together and understand how everything interacts with everything else. And it will probably take time, but you can help it go a bit faster if you organize the information and revise it whenever you start to understand a bit more (taking notes is a great way to do this). But I found that questions are an amazing tool that I overlooked for a long time.
As an example, let's say I'm getting an error I don't know how to solve. So I call someone from my team and they help me debug until we get to the point where I was missing some configuration in an external file. Ok, I'm happy the problem was solved, I thank my team mate and end the call. But now is when I usually get to my "learning moment": this is when I like to go back over what we discussed, how exactly the other person found the cause of the problem (what steps they followed and what pieces of information they thought were important), and then come up with questions I could have asked if I had a little more understanding. For instance, I could have avoided the whole call had I asked "do I need to add any variables in this configuration file?" or "what's the variable I have to add to get [something] to work?". Of course I couldn't have asked these questions before the call, since I didn't even know the configuration file existed (or I did, but never realized how it should be used). But then next time I probably will. So whenever I get an error (not necessarily the same error) I'll think about configuration files and maybe ask if there's anything that needs to be added there.
I'm not saying this is how it should work for everyone, and it might not even work at all for some people. We all have different learning processes and go at our own pace. But maybe it helps someone else who's also learning something new.
And remember it's ok to ask for help when you get blocked. Nobody is expected to know everything and ASKING FOR HELP IS OK (please don't let anyone tell you otherwise).
Help improve contributions
Mark contributions as unhelpful if you find them irrelevant or not valuable to the article. This feedback is private to you and won’t be shared publicly.
Contribution hidden for you
This feedback is never shared publicly, we’ll use it to show better contributions to everyone.
Like
Celebrate
Support
Love
Insightful
Funny
14
2 Comments
Antonella Schiavoni
Machine Learning Engineer
2y
- Report this comment
I love this! Great post!
1Reaction 2Reactions
This is so great. Thanks for sharing it.
1Reaction
See more comments
To view or add a comment, sign in
More articles by this author
No more previous content
- One very simple habit that improves our day-to-day work life Feb 8, 2024
- Good testing practices Jan 30, 2018
- How to be creative when writing test cases Jan 30, 2018
- Robot Framework + Selenium automation basics Jan 30, 2018
- Create a project using Eclipse+Maven+Selenium+Robot Framework Jan 30, 2018
- Selenium locators Jan 28, 2018
- Aᴄᴄᴇᴘᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ ᴛᴇsᴛs ("ATs") ᴀɴᴅ ᴡʜʏ ᴛʜᴇʏ ᴀʀᴇ ɪᴍᴘᴏʀᴛᴀɴᴛ Jan 26, 2018
No more next content
Sign in
Stay updated on your professional world
Sign in
By clicking Continue to join or sign in, you agree to LinkedIn’s User Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Cookie Policy.
New to LinkedIn? Join now
Insights from the community
- Software Development You’re looking to expand your skills. What’s the best way to learn new frameworks?
- Software Development What do you do if you want to gain hands-on experience with new technologies as a software developer?
- Software Development What do you do if you're struggling to balance your time while learning new software development skills?
- Web Applications How can you show a willingness to learn new skills?
- Technical Support You’re struggling to learn a new skill. How can you speed up the process?
- Software Engineering What do you do if you're a software engineer facing obstacles in continuing education?
- Technological Innovation What do you do if your performance evaluation reveals skill gaps in the technological industry?
- Lifelong Learning How do you transfer your learning to different contexts or situations?
- Front-end Development How do you learn new front-end technologies without losing your current skills?
- Resume Writing You're looking to learn new skills. How can you make time for it?
Others also viewed
- Are you interested in learning? F**K OFF traditional Software House!! VSW is waiting for you! Pietro Vaccarello 6y
- Addressing Trainees Common Questions About the Learning Process Edgar Bucott Afonso 1y
- Stay humble, keep learning Martijn van Turnhout 3y
- How can you stop your skills from getting rusty and your knowledge from getting outdated? Shuchishravi Chandra 8mo
- Never stop learning new things Arya S. 2y
- Another week of learning — some fairly personal notes Lucas Jellema 3y
- Learn and grow faster at 4mation Jacqueline Luz 2y
- Learning Journey as a Backend Developer Prajakta Kadam 2y
- Why the Best Full Stack Developers Learn by Doing Lisa Sullivan 7y
- The Boot Camp Survival Guide Kevin Long 8mo
Explore topics
- Sales
- Marketing
- Business Administration
- HR Management
- Content Management
- Engineering
- Soft Skills
- See All