Stack Overflow is an excellent resource for developers of all skills levels. I would break it down into four categories of usage: 1) Posting general questions

Stack Overflow is an excellent resource for developers of all skills levels. I would break it down into four categories of usage: 1) Posting general questions about "coding", like syntax questions, ie- "how do you create a loop in JavaScript" 2) Posting specific, targeted questions about specifics of something the dev doesn't do on a regular basis, ie- "how do you use Google OAuth for logins" 3) Searching existing SO posts for general questions about "coding", ie- Google search for "what is the difference between let and var in JavaScript", read first SO result 4) Searching existing SO posts for the specifics, ie- Google search for "how to manage cross-tab communication using javascript", read first SO result I would argue that a competent dev would (and should!) utilize SO using the 4th strategy on a regular basis (maybe weekly for a web dev) and occasionally the 2nd when all other resources have been exhausted. If you are paying someone $100k, yeah I agree that the first usage pattern is inappropriate, but saying "a developer shouldn't need to use StackOverflow" is a gross oversimplification of the vast knowledge that exists in SO.