At the start of your career, it can be surprising to realize that your access to other engineers' time is limited. So, you have to make the best of the time you get with them, which is where the art of asking questions can be incredibly beneficial. In this article, I've summarized some tips and tricks that have worked well for me and things I've seen competent engineers put into practice when asking questions.
Why should you bother to learn the art of asking questions? Weren't we taught that one should always ask questions and that there's no such thing as a bad question?
You're right, but I wouldn't necessarily oversimplify it either. The biggest reason you should explore the art of asking questions is simply this: people are much more receptive towards you when you go prepared. Put yourself in the other person's shoes:
Imagine you're a senior engineer and knee-deep in work. You've had back-to-back meetings all day, and you have yet to have a chance to do any focused work, and there are 2 junior engineers you have to help out.
Engineer A comes with a list of questions and shows you everything they tried out, including their hunch about the problem. Within minutes, you're both able to figure out the solution.
Engineer B comes in with a tediously long list of questions, most of which could have been answered through a Google search or your team's wiki. It's clear that they haven't given the questions any thought before, and debugging their issue takes a lot longer.
Which experience would you rate higher? Probably engineer A. They made your job easier. They just needed a little direction and very little handholding, and problem-solving with them was actually enjoyable! With engineer B, though, you felt that they had just casually transferred the grunt work to you. The lack of due diligence made for a lot less enjoyable process. In fact, you felt more burdened than anything.
Do your research
It might seem self-explanatory, but you'd be surprised how many people skip this step. Google search, stack overflow, chatGPT, and searching through your company's wiki- the list is endless. Use all the available tools at your disposal.
Timebox yourself
While doing this research, you have to be mindful of maintaining that balance between doing your due diligence and keeping project deadlines and deliverables in mind. There are project deadlines that need to be met and stakeholders that need to be reported to. Again, different problems will require you to assess the situation differently regarding how much time you should devote to the problem, but ultimately, you're a better judge of this.
Talk things out loud - especially if English isn't your first language!
As someone whose first language isn't English, I recommend talking things out loud before you ask questions. In my experience, I've often found that, especially when I'm struggling with something difficult, I can be thinking in one language, which is most likely my native language, and have to explain it in another, which can be a bit challenging sometimes because doing that translation might not be as straightforward.
Write things down
When we're struggling with something, it's very common to have a lot of scrambled thoughts which make sense to us but might not necessarily make sense to third person. My suggestion is to always sit down, gather your thoughts, write them down if you have, and talk them out loud, just so you're sure that when you're explaining your thought process, it is flowing as intended and someone listening would be able to follow your train of thought.
Use the rubber duck technique
This is basically the rubber duck technique, which is a common practice used by developers while debugging, with the concept behind it being that sometimes explaining your problem to a third person can prove to be very helpful in getting to the solution.
Be respectful of people's time
Please don't be the person constantly nagging other people on Slack. Even if you're reaching out to someone like your buddy, please be cognizant that while they're helping you out, they also have their day-to-day tasks to complete, so try to approach this more methodically. I used to write down my questions and then set aside some time with my mentor so I could talk to them. Instead of repeatedly asking for help, you can also share a compiled list of your questions. Alternatively, you can also schedule a quick 20-30-minute video chat, especially if you want to share your screen, which is a great way to showcase your findings and different things you've tried so far. These approaches are better because this way, you get someone's undivided attention instead of bothering them every couple of minutes when their attention might be elsewhere.
Why these suggestions?
I've made these suggestions for a couple of reasons, with the biggest one being that they help you deal with imposter syndrome, which can be a very common feeling you can experience, especially in the early days of a new job/role/career. When you start a new job, you don't have all the answers yet. In fact, you have more questions than answers. You rely on others to help you learn the ropes. While this is entirely expected, sadly, imposter syndrome knows no rhyme or reason. It strikes in the unlikeliest of scenarios and can make you feel very debilitated. But making these little efforts can go a long way in helping you feel more empowered against imposter syndrome. When you ask questions, having done your research and are well-armed with some background knowledge, you will feel more in control and accomplished. It's always helped me feel a lot better about my skill set in general because I know I've done everything I can to answer this question.
Secondly, it reflects positively on you as a new employee because it not only demonstrates that you're resourceful and know how to dig for answers but also shows the other person that you're respectful of their time because you're not just 'offloading' your questions on them and have given them some critical thought before.
This list isn't exhaustive and I'd love to hear your suggestions!