There are No stupid Questions - Especially in Cybersecurity

It is 2003. I am standing in the middle of a computer lab at our local Community Action Job Partnership Center. There are 10 people in the lab, each sitting in front of a computer. Worried and nervous expressions on almost all of their faces. They are there to learn the basics of using a computer to help them secure a job such as: Windows basics & desktop navigation, creating/saving files, web server & Outlook email, Internet navigation & search engines, and basic Microsoft Word skills. They are mostly older folks and displaced workers who have never had any experience with a computer, and at that time, computers and knowledge of how to use them, was incorporated into just about every job imaginable.

I am their instructor. I was subcontracted by my local Community Action Job Partnership to run a three-month workshop with eligible folks to participate. I would run this workshop for two years, and teach about a hundred people over that course of time. I created this workshop from scratch. Including writing a 45-page workshop instruction manual that covered everything I taught in my workshop: step-by-step instructions. It took several months to write, troubleshoot, proofread and print the manuals. At the end of the course, I made sure that whomever wanted to keep their manual, did.

One of the very FIRST things I would tell my clients with those worried and anxious faces is, “You can ask me anything. There are NO stupid questions in my workshops.” I can sense their relief and see some of the tension released from their stiffened sitting positions as well. I feel that people need to feel comfortable in that they can ask questions and comment on what they are being taught without the stigma of “asking a stupid” question. They will absorb and learn quicker with this mindset. Another anxiety I dealt with from clients was, “I’m afraid I’m going to screw something up by clicking on the wrong thing!” Which was actually quite fun for me to help with when it did happen. I will go into that experience and how to set people up for success while teaching them another time.

This brings me back to “There are no stupid questions - especially in Cybersecurity.” This profession, with all its myriad of concepts, terminology, concepts and processes; questions need to be asked at great length. AND, without the nagging thought in the back of the learners head, “I hope this isn’t a stupid question.”

While completing the Google Cybersecurity Professional Certificate, I am researching unfamiliar terms and concepts and looking for examples, and further context to help me understand a deeper “bigger picture.” If I wasn’t doing this online, you can bet your backside, I would be asking one question after another. For one reason, that is how I learn. We all learn differently. One way is not better than the other. I need to see how one individual piece fits into the “larger picture” before I can fully understand the new concept I am learning.

Every job I have ever had, I have said up front: “Look, I ask a lot of questions at first, but it will save both of us time later on, as I will not have to run to ask you this question or that question, several times a day.” For the most part, that thinking has been welcomed from previous employers.

However, I have had the experience of: “What a dumb question. Why would you ask that?” None of us, whether we are new at a job or learning new skills online, from a friend, at a college, or at your local Community Action Job Partnership, should ever hear that statement. In my opinion, there is absolutely no value in this kind of mindset. It lacks empathy and the lack of ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Not to mention it is also very detrimental to learning…anything new!

When a work or classroom environment makes you feel comfortable, you also feel you have emotional support in the classroom. Having that space where asking for guidance or questions is encouraged, rather than shamed, is necessary for all of us.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

You can connect with Paula Bartel via LinkedIn