There you are. Working dedicatedly and persistently until you stumble upon some issues. You look around and there is no help to be found. After all, you are probably working from home. You pull up your sleeves and you do not even search online for help, heavenly forbid you might solve the problem on your own! Even worst, you might waste your own time solving your own problem.
Rule Number 1
Search thoroughly online using short hand words, sentences and alternative keywords. Dig deep into QA forums of your topic. In our case, game engine topics.
Frankly, learn how to search for potential solutions. You would be surprised how poorly some people search online. So, if YOU happen to be the person to ask “Did you look online?” You should probably follow up with “How did you search for it online?”. Trust me, people definition of searching online is not the same as everyone else’s. Especially, if you have an academic research background you most likely do not define “I searched online already” as actually searching for a solution. No, a single attempt at looking on the first couple of links on page one does not constitute a complete search for a solution. If YOU are the person skipping this process then please understand that if you are not willing to do the work yourself first than others might not feel inclined to help.
You spend a few hours searching online. You realize this is not a new issue. You go through every suggestion that has worked and not worked for others. A few hours later you realize that even though some of them worked for others, none of them solved your problem. You grab the nearest utensil which happens to be a pencil. You are chewing it like Goofy did in the cartoon from the 80s. You admit defeat briefly and realize you life in the era of “every person smarter than you is somewhere online so let us find them and ask them a question before I break the nearest valuable item I possess”. And breeeeath. Okay, we are ready to dive into a community to ask for collaborative problem solving.
Rule Number 2
Do not ask vague and open questions with little to no information. Make sure you break it down and provide information on what you already tried.
Let us be honest. Most people ask questions like “How do I do X?”, “I have a problem and it is this”, “Do you have any feedback?”, “What do you think?”, “Can someone please tell me how to fix this weird looking issue?” So, what is the difficulty with asking such questions? First, if it is a common problem that you can search with a single search, you are losing points from anyone who knows you can search for the answer. It shows you are lazy or unable to problem solve simple issues on your own. So, if someone still helps you then you better be grateful for that persons time. Second, there is no information on what you already tried, so the person wanting to help has to spend additional time asking follow up questions as if they are your 24/7 customer support. Respect peoples time. Third, it does not specify specifically what you are trying to achieve. By explaining what you are trying to do can reduce the amount of questions and narrows down the possible reasons to your problem.
You asked your question. You decide to go do something else while someone solves your problem. You go surf around in social media and just chill. After all, why would you accept that you might have done a poor job at solving the problem? There can’t possibly be an alternative approach to your work. There is no way you can change your process or end result in another way, it has to be this specific way…right? Wrong.
Rule Number 3
While someone takes the time to help you out. Go look for alternative approach to your end goal. For example, what can you do instead of using A to get result X. Is there a B approach to get result X? There might be.
Do not go surf the internet, watch a movie or relax after asking for help. There is often alternative approach to getting your results even if one approach has many problems. This will allow you to learn more tricks for the future, and hopefully next time someone has your problem you could provide them with the other solution.
After a few weeks you have another problem. And you come back and ask for more help. People are starting to recognize your picture, nick or name. The person who always ask for feedback or help after a few days. You do not want to be that person. Does that mean you should stop asking for help? No.
Rule Number 4
Contribute to the community. I am sure you have some knowledge or answers to something that someone is asking online.
Take time out of your week to help others. This shows you are able to solve other problems and not just receive help. This makes you valuable and a person of interest. So, do not just ask for help but give it too. Even if you do not know the answer, consider looking up the answer because chances are that person did exactly what you did…very little…even if the think they exhausted all options…which we have learned is not the case. So, join the cycle and learn how to ask a question and give help. WE have all been there but together we can break it and follow these simple rules.
Farewell. And do not hate the messenger.
