As software engineers problem solving is part of what we do, we tend to face a lot of problems during our work or learning time, problems is part of our life routine.
But lately I noticed a pattern, it annoyed me so much that I had to write this article about it.
It starts by finding someone facing a problem then without taking any time to solve it, he just jumps in a large group of professionals, dumping his question as a one-liner, without a context, without search effort, and even without the effort of writing it in a proper way, it feels like he’s throwing his question over the fence and waiting for his neighbor to solve it for him.
I have to say, this is irresponsible from anyone, not to mention someone whose job is to solve problems.
When I was a child I wanted to be an inventor, creating new solutions fascinated me, solving problems was my passion, I naturally had the attitude of putting my head in a problem for hours or even days, searching everywhere and collecting information about everything until a solution emerges, the feels of finding a solution is so rewarding, it’s the feeling that drives me in my career until now, the feeling that all what you did added to your knowledge, and flooded to solve a problem not just for you, but for everyone else.
And this is exactly what annoys me, when I look around and see the contrast, the feeling that other software engineers don’t care about solving problems or taking the time to research before dumping a one-line question to thousands of people.
There is another attitude that also annoys me even more, It happens when someone faces a problem, search for a solution, tries several solutions then he gets stuck because non of them works, then he reverts back to the other stupid way of asking and drops one line question to thousands of other developers without mentioning what he did, leading to people suggesting the solutions he already tried and failed, that leads to multiplying his wasted time, as he needs to reply to them saying that he tried the solution already and it didn’t solve his problem, that wastes everyone’s time not just his time.
Please before asking any question take the time to search for a solution, and when you ask someone else for help, you have to say what you did to solve it, you have to do the effort to solve your own problem if you’re asking other people for help to solve it for you, it’s logical if you look at it, if you’re too lazy to try solving your problem, how do you expect other people to solve it for you.
Stop wasting other people time, and if you’re not into solving problems then stop wasting your own time and choose another line of work.