There Are No Stupid Questions

So don’t be afraid to ask them. You might gain perspective!

I’ve only worked at three companies my 20 year career as a software engineer, but I’m constantly starting over. New tools. New technologies. New projects. New teams. I describe myself as a “utility outfielder” because I don’t really specialize in any one thing. My managers like to lob things to me to work on because I document my work and usually come back with something useful to report back. Sometimes I even *gasp* come back with working prototypes.

As such, I’m definitely a “jack of all trades, master of none” kind of guy. That said, my main emphasis has been on helping users, through designing user interfaces that aid in accomplishing particular tasks.

This means I ask a lot of stupid questions. I take a lot of wrong turns and hit a lot of dead ends. And depending on the day, I can be pretty productive because I don’t have many preconceived notions — or I can be stuck for days at a time. It just depends on how strong my Google-fu happens to be and if I can ask the right questions.

Because I like to ask those questions, searching the Internet has become a full time job. I like that little input field and blinking cursor…

It allows me to ask all sorts of stupid questions without bothering anybody. I do that a lot. I mean a lot. To the point that when my Internet goes down (darn Internet gremlins!) I am in a world of hurt!

And when that fails, I resort to *gasp* asking people via online chat or e-mail, video meetings or actually chatting on the phone. I’m an introvert, so I prefer asynchronous communications approaches instead of synchronous ones. But even then, I find that sometimes asking the obvious or “stupid” questions can be extremely helpful.

My focus, over the last 20+ years, has always been on helping the user. Funny enough, keeping the “beginner’s mind” has been a huge benefit when asking questions from a user’s perspective. I often find myself asking the same “silly” questions that users ask — like how do I start, how do I know I’m on the right track, and how do I do things more effectively?

As such, starting fresh frequently has kept me from becoming jaded about too many things in my career.

Though I don’t like giving too much unsolicited advice, I would encourage you to approach everything with an open mind and be prepared to ask questions that may come across as “stupid” or “naive.” By keeping a “n00b” perspective, I think you often end up at better solutions than if you approach everything as the expert you may actually be.

Happy coding!

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