Junior Developers Are Asking TOO Many Questions!

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Hey folks, I am going to the comments today for this question. This is from Finsby and it says, "I am soon to be a junior developer finishing school next summer and my worst fear is entering the job market uh in my first junior job and having seniors run out of patience with me." So, this was in response to one of the recent videos I did where um I was responding to some Reddit topics where more senior people were having thoughts about how to sort of navigate situations with junior developers. So, then they go on to say, I know I'm going to get some extra slack in the beginning, but what if they think I'm not learning fast enough? What if they think I'm asking too much and that they're not uh independent enough? I say developing is hard. So I wanted to talk about this because I think this is very relevant.

Um I have worked with many junior developers. I've been managing engineering teams for 13 years now including like interns almost every single part of the year. Uh I when I worked at a startup for eight years we always had interns. When I have been at Microsoft I haven't always had interns but I think every year I've had interns. So like maybe not year round but every year I have had interns. So um definitely have from my own personal experience um you know a bunch of time spent with interns and junior developers which includes people that are like fresh out of school right so I want to talk about this because I've I've experienced a bunch from the manager side and that means like input from senior developers and people that are like the onboarding buddies so to speak. Um and I wanted to kind of uh you know shout out to Devon.

Uh Devin's very active um you know almost every video in the comments which is awesome. He joins live streams and stuff as well. So Devin chimed in. I was at a conference uh past couple days so didn't really get a good chance to respond to this well which is making this video now but Devon said it's better to ask too many questions than not enough and waste time twiddling your thumbs and going down wrong paths. I think that being self-aware in this way means you'll be fine. And so I do uh I do agree with that. So if anything, I would recommend that any junior developer air on the side of like reach out and ask too much too much whatever that means. I would much rather 100% much rather that you do that where you're too like you know too much in terms of asking questions versus the opposite.

And the reason I say that is because for many other similar things in software engineering when it comes to teams, I would much rather people be vocal about anything than be quiet. Especially when it comes to junior developers because uh junior developers working remotely in particular is so challenging for the junior developer because they are isolated. they don't have other people around them. I have seen it time and time again especially at Microsoft where we have been uh relatively remote. It it's night and day difference with individuals and I don't mean like their intelligence or their skill level or anything like that. There is a night and day difference in the success of junior developers or interns with ramping up and getting to a point where they can be independent. It's a night and day difference based on how much they reach out. And I mean this seriously, right?

Um, it does not matter how many times I tell new hires or their like onboarding buddy or someone that they're paired up with on their team, uh, or like feature crew. Like our sub teams are called feature crews. Doesn't matter how often we tell people, please reach out, ask for help. Doesn't matter. Some people seem to just be more naturally willing to do that and other people, they just don't do it. And I think a lot of it comes down to they're afraid to bother others. They don't want to disrupt. They don't want to uh make it seem like they're they're not capable. They they don't want to come across as stupid because they're asking questions and stuff like that. But what happens is, you know, much sort of like much worse than like, you know, not being good enough. And it is that you just get stuck and then we have bigger problems because we can't help you because we don't know that you're stuck because you're kind of hiding from it, right?

It's like it's almost like avoidance and it we don't get to address the root problem. We fully expect as more senior people on the teams, right? I fully expect as the manager that you're going to need time to ramp up that you're going to have questions. When I often get into one-on-one conversations in the beginning, I just like I'm like, "Hey, look, like we got 30 minutes and if you need more, let me know. But like ask away. Like anything you want, like just ask because I know that you're going to have questions. And seriously, it makes a tremendous difference with the success rate or the even the ramp up speed of of developers that are new to the team when they are reaching out and asking. Now, I know that for some people that happens to be more natural. I've talked to some people and they're like, "Yep, no problem.

Like, I will, you know, I feel comfortable. I'll just do that." And then they do and it's it's great, right? they ask questions or they're they they are even some of the first folks that are newer to the team that end up helping others, right? So, they just happen to be like more I don't want to say outgoing. I don't think that's the right word, but more engaging in like whatever uh communication method that they choose. Whether that's replying on emails for us like a lot of teams activities, stuff like that, but reaching out and just like I got questions or hey, I found something, I'm sharing it. The people that seem to gravitate towards that more seem to be like more successful with ramping up. I'm not saying that is the cause of it. I'm just saying that I see a correlation with that.

And conversely, the people that are um they're not reaching out and asking for help, maybe they do for like the first week and after that they're kind of like, "Okay, I don't want to bother anyone." I noticed that there's a correlation with having a lot more challenges. Now, I have almost never heard of a senior or like, you know, someone who has more experience, whether they're senior or not. I have almost never heard of someone complaining like, "Hey, this person's asking too many questions." Or, "Hey, this person's just they're not they're not cut out." Rarely do I ever hear that. Or, "Hey, this person's like they're pissing me off kind of thing because they're just asking too much." It's it's very rare. Um if there is sort of like that negative feedback coming in, it's usually like one uh they're not like, you know, the more junior person, hey, they're not reaching out at all, like at all.

And then that means that I have to kind of uh try to coach the person that's a little bit more senior to be like, hey look, like this is a pattern I've seen. And I recommend that while it might be a it feel like a little bit too much in the beginning, like you actually try to uh create some space where you can say, "Hey, look, I'm going to reach out to you." So they have the more senior person reach out and kind of force that interaction almost like the um the words don't really mean anything when we're like hey like reach out ask for help anytime people are like I don't really believe it so we kind of have to prove it by example right like I will reach out to you then I'll check in with you every single morning until you get

in the habit of feeling like comfortable that you can reach out ask questions and stuff like that so that's when people are like underperforming and that's like the feedback I'm That's one of the primary um things that I end up hearing. It's quite rare that I think there's like a like a skill issue shows up like we know that the people are junior. I don't I don't know if I've ever had for like a new employee. I don't know if I've ever had someone be like, "Hey, look, there's a skill issue here." And like it's not going to work. It's almost always, "Hey, look, like I'm not really getting like conversation from this person. like what do I do about this? And the side effect of that is kind of like I think they're falling behind. They're not really keeping up. So, we have to be more proactive.

The other sort of challenge that comes up is kind of like one of this this person's fears, which is like I don't want to bother people. I don't want them what they say um they said having seniors run out of patience with me. I don't think that this happens the way that people think that it does. Um, that's kind of a weird thing to say. I don't think that people experience this the way that they're imagining that it actually plays out. So, I think it's pretty rare that like someone more senior just gets frustrated at a junior for asking questions. It's like that's not really what the issue is. I think people can get frustrated uh for legitimate reasons. Like it's I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I think one way that it can happen is if that senior person's feeling overwhelmed already. They might have other project deliverables.

They might feel under pressure for some other reasons and they're like, "Hey, like I really want to help this person, but I don't really know how to prioritize because like they they full this is why they get frustrated. They're like, I acknowledge that I really want to help them and I like I need more time because if I if I'm helping them, I'm not getting my other stuff done. And if I focus on my stuff, then I'm fully acknowledging that I'm not doing sort of what I what I really need to and want to be doing for this junior person. So that's one way frustration comes up. And that's that's not to blame the junior person at all. That's more like a priority thing that I can work with the more senior person on. And in that case, it might be like, hey, look, like if you're currently feeling overwhelmed, like have them reach out to me.

Like I will, you know, let me kind of be the onboarding buddy, so to speak. or maybe there's someone else on the team I can kind of say like, "Hey, don't worry about it. Let me pair them up with this other individual, right? It's not it's not a weakness to be like, hey, I'm going through like a really busy time or I have some stress for some other things." That's that's human. It's going to happen. So, in my opinion, like bring it up. Talk to your manager about it. If I had someone more senior on the team or anyone that was a like an onboarding kind of buddy for someone more junior, if they're like, "Hey, look, like I'm feeling frustrated or I'm feeling flustered or whatever it happens to be because of this." I'm not going to say suck it up. Like you got to figure it out.

I would love to be able to do that, right? But the reality is like I need to make sure I can support them. So it's like something has to give if they're feeling like they're going to fall apart. So what needs to happen? and I I'll work with them on that. But the answer is not like, "Oh, I guess we'll just tell the junior to not ask questions." Like that's that's not happening. Not at all. The other thing that comes up though, and this isn't limited to like new uh new team members, just for the record, I want to clarify this. I have seen people get frustrated because when they're trying to help, it's not that, oh, this person has a new question. Oh, this person has a new question.

They get frustrated because they go, "This person has the same question." So, in my personal experience from doing this for years and years, I don't think that I have ever heard someone be like, "I'm frustrated with this person or feeling like giving up on this person because they have lots of questions." But I have heard people be like, I don't know if I can like dedicate more time to this individual or I'm frustrated with this individual. It's because it's the same question. And the reason that becomes frustrating is because they want to help, right? The the person who is more senior, they want to help. They want to make sure that person's enabled to do good work. If you think about it selfishly, right, for that individual, for the more senior person, selfishly, if they can get that other in like the more junior person ramped up, they get more help, right?

The quicker they get them ramped up, the more that they get more support for their work and other things going on in the team. They want that person to be successful, like 100%. It's it's in their best interest selfishly. In the short term, it might be a bit of a like, hey, I'm spending some extra time doing this. But the long term, like they want that person to be like, you know, full steam ahead helping out on stuff. So, they get frustrated because they're like, look, I'm investing this time. I'm I'm trying to find different ways to talk to this person to explain things. I'm walking through stuff. you know, like pair programming on things or like I'm screen sharing and we're walking through stuff and like that takes a lot of time and they're like it's worth it to help them. They feel that way, but then they go why do I have to do it again and again and again?

That's where people seem to get frustrated. Now, if something is genuinely not clicking, right, whose fault is that? And I asked that kind of sarcastically because it's not really anyone's fault. It could be that the way that the more senior person is explaining things, despite all of their efforts, is just not sort of the way that's uh clicking for this person. It could be that the the more junior person, the new the new team member, maybe it is just above their head. Maybe it is too challenging for them. Maybe it is too complex. Don't know. It's going to be situational. All these things are situational. The point is that this is I find much more rare. And when it comes up, this is again something that I would be very like I'm not everyone's manager and I get that, but this is something that I would be happy to try coaching people on.

either it's way too overwhelming for the more senior person and they're like, "Look, I need to focus on my stuff. I might step in to try coaching the more junior person or to coach someone else on the team so that they can help out the more junior person." We're taking care of the junior person no matter what. Okay? So, if I have to step in to to do it or to help coach, that's fine. But I need to know, right? Because like if if I don't know, I don't want like a junior person floundering and the more senior person being like, "Oh, like I hate everything going on." I don't want that to happen. But I find that's a more rare thing. But again, I've seen this come up like regardless of someone being junior or like a new team member. I've seen this come up with people that have been on teams for years.

So I don't want anyone who is like, you know, an aspiring developer or about to be, you know, working in their first job to think like, you know, it's it's all on me. Like I'm going to screw this up. I'm going to annoy people. I'm not going to be enough. There's there's these situations can happen even with other people. Which leads me to one of my final points that I want to bring up is that um if you genuinely if you are genuinely working on a team and you have people that are more senior that are not willing to help if that's like the team culture where it's like hey look like buckle up and figure it out. If that's how you are left then I would say you are on the wrong team and that has nothing to do with you. you are not like the failure in this situation.

You are not the the shitty new developer. It's not that you are not enough. It's that that team is absolutely not where you want to be. It also doesn't mean that that team is terrible. They might literally not have the right sort of setup and infrastructure and team culture at that point in time to be able to support a new developer, which means that team's got to do work. That's the reality. It's not that you are crap or you are not enough. You're a junior developer. The expectation must be that the team is there to help support you and ramp you up. That's just the reality. So, it's not a it's not a you thing. Okay. And I think that's the like the number one thing I want to drive home here is like I don't want you or anyone else to have this fear that like I'm going to disappoint.

It's I'm not saying that there won't be for other people there won't be some friction or they won't feel like they're they're getting too busy or something that's going to happen. It might be perfectly smooth. You might have a person that is so excited that you're joining the team. They're so excited to help you, right? And they're like, "Hell yeah." Like, "I this is going to be like the best opportunity cuz I really wanted to have this experience like actually mentoring someone and having like an impact like that." And then it just so happens that they're at a critical point in their project or something when this lines up or there's some type of service impact for a live service and they're like really stressed out about trying to support it over some period of time. And those are just external factors from you and it causes extra stress for this person.

That has nothing to do with you. So these are all things that can happen, right? So I I just don't want you to kind of to to take that on and blame yourself. So I will remind you once again that I would absolutely recommend to anyone air on the side of asking too many questions. Air on the side of too much communication. You can always talk with someone on the team that's helping you. If you're concerned, just say, "Hey, look, I know I ask a lot of questions. Would you prefer that I do this a different way? Would you prefer that like I kind of batch up a few of them and like or like do you prefer that I send them to you on Teams or or Slack or whatever you're using? Would you prefer over email?" Like be like just be open with them and be like, "Hey, I don't I don't want to be bothering you." I guarantee you they're going to say that you're not because you won't be.

But is there a more optimal way to communicate? Maybe. Talk to them about it. Everyone's going to be different, right? Like for me, I would love to help out anyone on the team, but I don't like getting a message that says quick call or got a sec with no contact. I can't stand it. I think I have like anxiety around it. I don't know what's wrong with me, but like I cannot deal with that. But if someone said, "Hey, Nick, I'm working on something and here's the scenario. Could you help me out with that?" Hell yeah. Like, let me wrap up what I'm doing. Maybe I don't have time right at this moment. Maybe I can connect you with someone. Just give me some context. I'm happy to help however I can. But you have to make sure that you're reaching out.

And then for folks that are more senior, I will remind you that if you have juniors that are not reaching out and asking questions to you, please in the beginning try to overcommunicate the other way. Check in with them. Make a habit of doing that. Make a habit of letting them know that it's okay to reach out and ask for help. Demonstrate that to them by by reaching out to them and checking in with them. Look, it's not bothering me. That's why I'm asking you. Like, I'm trying to check in with you. and try to build up that confidence with them. But to this individual, I hope that helps. I realize that, you know, um just words right now, right? But I wish you the best of success and I hope that uh when you start in the industry, you can keep some of this in mind.

And just remember that people want to help you. So don't blame yourself. Folks, if you have questions that you want answered, leave them below in the comments or you can go to codemute.com. You can submit questions anonymously that way if you'd like. You can write a lot more detail that way, too. And of course, I have other YouTube channels if you're interested. So, Dev Leader is where I have my AI and C programming tutorials. Dev Leader Path to Tech is where I do resume reviews. And Dev Leader podcast is where I interview other software engineers and do a live stream every Monday at 700 p.m. Pacific. And I would love to see you there. Thanks. See you next time.