Comments: Why Asking for Help Strengthens Engineering Teams

[annacarey]

I know that for many developers, especially those early in their careers, asking for help can be intimidating. I often fear wasting someone’s time or exposing myself as less skilled or smart than my team initially thought.

In my first month as a software engineer at Artsy (and barely six months into life as an engineer after [transitioning from a career in communications] [how-losing-my-job-helped-me-find-my-way-back]), I was struggling through a ticket assigned to me as a “good first issue.” (The team estimated the task to be straightforward enough for someone new to the team.) After a few hours stumbling between the ticket, my code, and Google, I made very little progress.