5 ms·

The biggest difference between junior devs and senior devs is the ability to dig for answers and information and only ask when you are completely blocked. It se

The biggest difference between junior devs and senior devs is the ability to dig for answers and information and only ask when you are completely blocked. It seems like you've surrounded yourself with junior engineers and aren't interested in mentoring them into doing better. You should talk to your manager, or find a more technical place to work with fewer people to mentor.

righttoolforjob 5y ago
I read this through a completely different lens. The people I've seen with this type of behaviour have been bitter or incompetent leads or managers. I too wished they would take a long hike of a short bridge, but chose to leave the company instead. Entitled and demanding people who offered very little value and had built their careers by trampling on others. No thanks for me.
- alexk307 5y ago
  There are certainly exceptions to every case, but I when I was first starting out my career, I was super guilty of doing this. Always asking my coworkers for help or information, even though I had all the access to information that I needed, or could just ask Google. It wasn't until the lead engineer kindly sat me down and told me that I need to be more responsible for my interruptions and only ask when you're completely stumped. Some of the best career advice I have gotten in this industry.
  - righttoolforjob 5y ago
    That is good advice! I got the same from my first manager: Research and try to find the answer first before reaching out for help. I had in fact already done that in the particular situation in which he commented, but he was right in principle anyway, so no harm done. I have a very different feeling about the OPs situation though. This is not about junior people asking too many questions or being lazy or incompetent, it is about a personality of people who are just entitled and demanding and just generally bitter assholes. Not typically seen in juniors!
  - ajford 5y ago
    My last two positions have followed the exact opposite philosophy, and I prefer their take. The general consensus at these places was that getting to the information faster is preferable. We have a team chat channel for a reason, ask their. Don't stop your search, and don't ask first thing, but after a cursory glance, ask. Then continue to search on your own. If someone knows the answer and sees the question, they should respond. If you find the answer first, update the thread and answer your own question in case it helps anyone else. That said, I agree if the answer was easily found in a google search. That's the kind of basic info an engineer/developer should be able to answer on their own with research and self-exploration. It's key to be able to tell quickly whether the answer/info you're looking for is likely to be a common/general piece of info or a company/industry specific piece of knowledge that might not be found widely.
CTmystery 5y ago
Hard disagree, but obviously our mileage has varied. I find that junior devs are the most hungry and will comb through endless poorly organized docs and source code before asking a question that makes them look like they "don't belong".
- williamdclt 5y ago
  Yeah I agree. "Only asking when you are completely blocked" definitely isn't a sign of seniority: it might mean losing a lot of time for little benefit. Maybe the person with the knowledge would be very happy spending 10min with you rather than you spending hours figuring things out by yourself.
projektfu 5y ago
I didn't see this as a hostile student, I saw it as a hostile co-worker who is trying to accuse you of something you didn't do. A junior dev may ask a lot of questions but that would be like, "Where is that documented? How do I read that? I don't understand what it's saying." A senior person might have already grokked a lot of it but didn't realize there was hidden context somewhere else, so when they say they couldn't find the documentation you show them and they go back to read it. A hostile student (someone who wants to be force-fed info instead of reading themselves) would pepper you with questions showing they didn't in good faith read any of the docs, but they wouldn't lie and say the docs weren't there. This is someone who thought that you were slacking off or wasting time and want to show that, and they'll keep at it until they can find something to stick. And if they can't, they'll make you have two mutually exclusive things to be true in order to satisfy them.
Kluny 5y ago
I doubt that's the case with this particular author.
orthecreedence 5y ago
Ability =/= willingness.

righttoolforjob 5y ago

I read this through a completely different lens. The people I've seen with this type of behaviour have been bitter or incompetent leads or managers. I too wished they would take a long hike of a short bridge, but chose to leave the company instead. Entitled and demanding people who offered very little value and had built their careers by trampling on others. No thanks for me.

alexk307 5y ago
There are certainly exceptions to every case, but I when I was first starting out my career, I was super guilty of doing this. Always asking my coworkers for help or information, even though I had all the access to information that I needed, or could just ask Google. It wasn't until the lead engineer kindly sat me down and told me that I need to be more responsible for my interruptions and only ask when you're completely stumped. Some of the best career advice I have gotten in this industry.
- righttoolforjob 5y ago
  That is good advice! I got the same from my first manager: Research and try to find the answer first before reaching out for help. I had in fact already done that in the particular situation in which he commented, but he was right in principle anyway, so no harm done. I have a very different feeling about the OPs situation though. This is not about junior people asking too many questions or being lazy or incompetent, it is about a personality of people who are just entitled and demanding and just generally bitter assholes. Not typically seen in juniors!
- ajford 5y ago
  My last two positions have followed the exact opposite philosophy, and I prefer their take. The general consensus at these places was that getting to the information faster is preferable. We have a team chat channel for a reason, ask their. Don't stop your search, and don't ask first thing, but after a cursory glance, ask. Then continue to search on your own. If someone knows the answer and sees the question, they should respond. If you find the answer first, update the thread and answer your own question in case it helps anyone else. That said, I agree if the answer was easily found in a google search. That's the kind of basic info an engineer/developer should be able to answer on their own with research and self-exploration. It's key to be able to tell quickly whether the answer/info you're looking for is likely to be a common/general piece of info or a company/industry specific piece of knowledge that might not be found widely.

CTmystery 5y ago

Hard disagree, but obviously our mileage has varied. I find that junior devs are the most hungry and will comb through endless poorly organized docs and source code before asking a question that makes them look like they "don't belong".

williamdclt 5y ago
Yeah I agree. "Only asking when you are completely blocked" definitely isn't a sign of seniority: it might mean losing a lot of time for little benefit. Maybe the person with the knowledge would be very happy spending 10min with you rather than you spending hours figuring things out by yourself.

projektfu 5y ago

I didn't see this as a hostile student, I saw it as a hostile co-worker who is trying to accuse you of something you didn't do. A junior dev may ask a lot of questions but that would be like, "Where is that documented? How do I read that? I don't understand what it's saying." A senior person might have already grokked a lot of it but didn't realize there was hidden context somewhere else, so when they say they couldn't find the documentation you show them and they go back to read it. A hostile student (someone who wants to be force-fed info instead of reading themselves) would pepper you with questions showing they didn't in good faith read any of the docs, but they wouldn't lie and say the docs weren't there. This is someone who thought that you were slacking off or wasting time and want to show that, and they'll keep at it until they can find something to stick. And if they can't, they'll make you have two mutually exclusive things to be true in order to satisfy them.

Kluny 5y ago

I doubt that's the case with this particular author.

orthecreedence 5y ago

Ability =/= willingness.