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H W TO ASK QUESTIONS AND FIND THE RIGHT ANSWERS

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You will f*ck up.

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You will f*ck up. Every day.

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And that’s okay.

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And that’s okay. It’s the best part, really.

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“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” Khalil Gibran

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(A story of a button.)

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Getting ahead in 5 easy steps

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Admit that you have a problem. 1

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Walk away. 2

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Narrow it down. 3

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A Is something broken? B Are you stuck?

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- What does it take to trigger the problem? - What is it that you want to achieve? - What happens instead? A

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- What is it that you want to achieve? - What is involved? - Where are you getting stuck? B

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Research. 4

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A “Do you have a name”? Check the documentation.

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A + B Too fuzzy? — Use a search engine. Don’t bother with site searches.

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?

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What does it take to trigger the problem? What is it that you want to achieve? What happens instead? A WHEN THEN BUT

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What is it that you want to achieve? What is involved? Where are you getting stuck? B WHAT WITH HOW

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- Leave your emotions at the door. - Formulate your question with the answer in mind. - Be speci c in your terms. - Consider variations of your problem. - e order of the search terms matters. - Let the results guide your next question.

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A + B Evaluate the results.

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- How old is an answer? Check the date. - How trustworthy is the source? - Explanation or just a code snippet? - Close, but no cigar? —Can you adapt an answer to your use case?

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Ask for help. 5

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(What is Stackover ow and how does it work?)

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So, you think you’re ready to ask a question?

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Have you exhausted all other means?

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Did you search for similar questions?

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Really?

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Really? Alright then —

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- Leave your emotions at the door. - Be speci c, be brief.

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- Leave your emotions at the door! - Provide all necessary context. - Show that and what you’ve tried. - Be speci c, be brief. - Make it relevant to others. - Keep an open mind. - Be nice.

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- Use as little tags a as possible. - Don’t use buzzwords. - is is not a honey pot!

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Now wait. Go, do something else. Be patient.

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Found what you needed?

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Found what you needed? Take some time to understand.

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Comment. Ask follow–up questions. Be grateful.

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Repeat. ∞

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Experts Beginners

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Experts Beginners Highly specialized questions Universal questions

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Someone somewhere had the same problem than you before.

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Give up.

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Give up for the moment

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Give up for the moment, but never for good.

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Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

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Writing Ruby is a magical experience, but Ruby is not magic.

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Here’s something to get you started:

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@polarblau