How to ask for help

Most juniors ask vague, broad questions that make it hard for anyone to give meaningful help.

If you're someone entering the tech industry, you need to learn this skill. Stop asking single line questions.

A good question removes guesswork, shows your effort, and tells the other person exactly what you need. Depending on how good your question is, the number of people who'd be willing to help you out in a group drastically changes.

What makes a good question?

• Clearly state your objective
• Explain where you are today
• Show your understanding of the landscape
• Highlight what you've already done
• Identify your blocker

One of the most common questions I see in groups is "How do I learn React?"

It's a perfect example of a bad question when asked without context. You throw this out in a group and expect detailed answers or guides to follow.

And...crickets!

Or you get a generic answer that's not helpful to you. Afraid of appearing dumb, you won't ask anything else. You're still stuck with no direction.

People want to help you. You just have to make it a little easier for them. Don't make them do the hard work for you. Show your efforts and show that you are serious.

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How to ask better questions?

State your objective

People learn React for completely different reasons:

• They want a job and heard that they need to learn React to get one
• They already know another framework and want to learn React too
• They have been working with older tech and want to upgrade
• They want to learn it just out of curiosity

Different goals require different answers. A good question would be

Explain where you are today

If you don't tell people clearly about your background, expect a generic and unhelpful answer.

Tell them what you already know

• Do you know HTML/CSS?
• Do you know basic JavaScript?
• Have you written functions, loops, arrays, events, basic DOM manipulation?
• Have you built even a simple static website?

By anchoring your current position, you reduce the guesswork the other person has to do. They can skip basic suggestions and target your actual needs.

Talk about your understanding of the landscape

Ask yourself "What do I know about this industry?"

If you have never asked this question to yourself, now might be a good time to do that.

• Why do you want to learn React?
• Do you know what work React developers usually do?
• Do you understand how React fits into the bigger picture of building a product?

Talk about your understanding and give context to your question. The other person will have more information about the direction you are heading to.

Identify your exact blocker

If you want help in a specific area and don't want people to give you generic suggestions, be specific with your question.

The best questions pinpoint your confusion.

• “I don’t understand when to use useState vs useRef.”
• “I can’t figure out how components pass data cleanly.”
• “JSX makes sense, but I don’t get rendering rules.”
• “I don’t know how to structure a React project.”
• “I understand components but not data flow.”

Example of a good question

Here is an example of “How do I learn React?”