The biggest problem I see with junior devs? They're too afraid to ask "dumb" questions. Not asking slows you down way more than asking ever will. You'll sit stuck for hours when a 2-minute convo could've solved it. No one cares if your question sounds dumb. We care if you keep shipping broken code because you didn't ask. Normalize: "Hey, I might be missing something obvious, but…" That one sentence can save days.
@rudrakvelkara Same for senior developers. They are even more afraid. My edge is, I'll collect every dumb question I can find and make all my smarter colleagues look even smarter
@rudrakvelkara Embracing curiosity over pride is key. I'd add that fostering a team culture where questions are welcomed is just as crucial. Seniors should model openness by sharing their own uncertainties.
@rudrakvelkara Junior Devs are afraid to ask dumb questions because Senior Devs can be assholes. Stack overflow is the most toxic gatekeepy website on the internet. Thanks to chatGPT, the culture of asking dumb questions is completely changing.
@rudrakvelkara As a junior dev myself, I used to think my questions were dumb too! But the truth is, asking for help saves you time & sanity in the long run. Trust me, we've all been there. Just ask away and don't worry about what others think.
@rudrakvelkara Not all senior devs are like this. I have seen senior devs who would pass a dirty smirk or laugh out when a junior asks dumb questions. This just demotivates the guy to ask such questions in future thereby killing any zeal which he had in him
@rudrakvelkara One of the mistakes I saw was a fear to commit a change to branch while thinking "it's not yet good enough". Juniors need to be encouraged to created branches, explore ideas, iterate and discard branches if they went off rails; and then start from scratch.
@rudrakvelkara Absolutely The “dumb” question you ask today prevents the dumb mistake you ship tomorrow
@rudrakvelkara ive been doing front-end since Internet Explorer 5 era and still asking dumb questions 😅
@rudrakvelkara Asking dumb questions is the fastest way to correct you mental model. Something like gradient descent 😅
@rudrakvelkara I was junior dev long time ago, but I still love to ask dumb questions. It's a great way of sparking creativity.
@rudrakvelkara oh yeah, i have seen people trolling me for asking how to download VS code, but i just figured out by watching a youtube video. It took around 2 hours to find the solution.
@rudrakvelkara It's even AI era - a safe space to ask the most dumb questions without feeling dumb.
@rudrakvelkara True, I think sometimes you want to chew and tackle the problem yourself but spending hours is clearly too much. What’s the solution?
@rudrakvelkara When people ask mostly seniors insult so that's the main reason
@rudrakvelkara Ask that dumb question now, so you don’t ask tomorrow
@rudrakvelkara Asking questions is a sign of willingness to learn, not weakness. It helps you grow faster and prevents bigger issues later on. Embracing curiosity and normalizing asking questions creates a healthier learning environment for everyone.
@rudrakvelkara Funny how so much learning happens because someone went into the mines to learn how something works, because they didn't want to ask. Or maybe the senior dev said they were busy for the day, and could take a meeting 3 days out.