Ask

It can be easy to not ask for help. You feel like a team player, like it’s better to not drain the resources of the team. You can even lean on the old familiar refrain “they hired me to figure stuff out on my own” or maybe, like me, you have some imposter syndrome riding on your back.

The truth is, at least here, we hire people to ask questions. We want our people to be curious and to try hard stuff and to tackle challenges and to do good work. And we know that good work is harder when people don’t ask questions.

In software, good work is usually complicated. We often use new technologies to solve interesting problems that haven’t been solved this way before. That’s complicated and complicated stuff is hard to do alone. Complicated stuff is also worthwhile — it means its new and valuable and unique. A new client, a new tool, a new space, a new way for users to do things.

So ask questions. Get help. Raise your hand. Be insistent and be thorough. I promise someone is here to help. I also promise you’ll teach them too.