Mastering Question-Asking for Engineers – IEEE Spectrum

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The #1 rule for asking questions

As an engineer, continuing education is a fundamental part of the job. A lot of learning is trying something, getting stuck, and then asking your teammates a question.

Here’s what’s often overlooked in this process: The quality of your question determines the quality of the answer. So it’s worth thinking about how you can improve your question-asking skills.

The guiding principle when it comes to asking a question is simple: Make it easy for others to help you. Let’s break down what that means.

Include necessary information. In the world of software engineering, for example, asking something like “Can you explain why the application is crashing?” » places a huge burden on the recipient of the question to gather more information before they can help you. They will need to know:

• What action caused the application to crash?
• Is the problem recurring?
• What do the newspapers reveal?

It’s usually not difficult to anticipate follow-up questions you might receive after asking a question. Include these details in your question!

Show your work. One of the most common responses to a question is “What have you tried?” » This is essential information to include in order to (1) improve the chances that the recipient will be able to help you and (2) to prove that you have done the necessary homework.

Common details to include are: previous team discussions, code snippets, and relevant data. But be careful not to overdo it. Including too much code in your question will overwhelm anyone trying to help you. You should spend time identifying the snippet that captures the essence of your problem. Remember, the golden rule is to make it easy for others to help you, which requires your judgment on the right level of backstory to include.

Explain your goal. Backstory is deceptively important in any question, especially for technical topics. For example, you might think it’s obvious why you’re trying to add a parameter to a function, but it’s probably not clear to your teammates. One mistake I’ve often seen is that the question is asked at the wrong “altitude”: the asker has made incorrect assumptions that led them to ask the wrong question.

To get the best answers, include a brief explanation of your goals at the beginning of your question to set context.

Address the right audience: One of my pet peeves since working at Facebook was when an engineer would ask me individually a generic question that others could have benefited from. Instead of messaging me directly, I wish they would have posted on a group forum. By publishing to a wider audience, others could have learned from the response, and follow-up discussions could have taken place. Additionally, polling the group will lead to a quicker resolution; this removes just one person (me) as the bottleneck.

The issue of 1:1 versus group forum is just one thing to consider. Is your question best answered verbally or in writing? Could a junior colleague answer your question, or do you need feedback from your team lead or manager?

By considering the above criteria, the quality of your questions will significantly improve, leading to more effective interactions and learning.

—Rahul

If you work in academia, you’ve probably heard the phrase “publish or perish” used to describe the pressure researchers have to get their names in journals. AI tools make scientific research more efficient and boost individual careers, but there is a catch. A new analysis of more than 40 million academic articles found that while AI tools help researchers publish faster, they also narrow the scope of the questions scientists study. Instead, AI-driven research focuses on data-rich problems, leading some to worry about the decline of originality and innovation.

Learn more here.

Sergey Antonovich is an engineer with an unusual hobby: building digital accordions. As part of his day job, Antonovich develops embedded systems for self-driving cars. But when he rediscovered a childhood passion for music, he discovered surprising similarities in the skills needed to make his own musical instruments. Learn about his career and watch Antonovich show off his accordions, including the one he calls the “Partymaker.”

Learn more here.

AI is reshaping expectations for entry-level workers across all industries, including engineering and technology roles. What does this mean for recent graduates and other job seekers? Now, employers are looking for graduates who can perform at a higher level from their first day on the job and use AI tools effectively. Practical experience, critical thinking, and AI fluency could help you stay ahead of a changing job market.

Learn more here.