© Daniel Heller 2020
D. HellerBuilding a Career in Softwarehttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4842-6147-7_14

14. Describing Problems and Asking Questions

Daniel Heller1 
(1)
Denver, CO, USA
 
You will have thousands of occasions in your career to ask technical questions or make other requests of technologists; these are wonderful opportunities to annoy the living daylights out of people you respect or, equally, opportunities to impress. Your principles should be
  1. 1.

    Try a reasonable amount1 to help yourself before you take others’ time.

     
  2. 2.
    Provide ample context, as you would with any other form of technical writing:
    • Your intentions: What you’re trying to do so your colleague knows why you’re asking and can decide whether the question is the right one to ask in ...

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