<commit_before>---
layout: essay
type: essay
title: Don't be dumb, be smart
date: 2017-09-01
labels:
  - Engineering
  - Reflection
  - Smart Questions
---

<img class>

There's no such thing as a dumb question, but there are stupid questions. As we continue down our paths as CS students, we will be faced with obstacles/problems. But, what is the right way to ask for help when we get stuck?  The answer to this is very simple and it requires a lot more than just simply asking a generic question, it is called smart questions. Smart questions is an effective way of asking questions without wasting other people's time, is the way I interpret it. Time is money, so when a question is vague or the person asking for help doesn't put the time/effort themselves first, then there is no use in helping. Some characteristics of a smart question include, trying to handle the problem by yourself first, being informative with your questions and always being clear of what you are asking.

As I scrolled through StackOverflow, searching for the most downvoted question I could find. We can see here, in [exhibit A](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14102525/counting-upvotes-and-downvotes) that this is more of a stupid question. Now, it's a question nonetheless dont get me wrong, but the way it was asked is just so "loser" like. The user clearly does not list the steps he/she took in order to tackle the problem by themselves. This does not mean that he/she did not try to solve their problem on their own, but it does give a sense that the user did not try before asking. This is really important because listing down different strategies that were used, can ultimately lead you to solutions that you've never attempted before.

On the other hand, it was quite easy picking a smart question on StackOverflow. In this example, we can see that this is a smart question. Reasons why this question is a smart one is not hard to point out. The user's question was percise and informative, he/she listed the programming language that the problem was located on, which causes no confusion for the people trying to answer. Another way that this is a smart question is that the user listed the different strategies that he/she used to solve the problem. This stands out the most because, why would you want to help somebody that did not take the time to help themselves first? This shows that the user actually attempted the problem and is not showing that he/she is entitled to an answer without putting in effort. It's kind of similar to having a group project, and having that one member that does not contribute but gets the passing grade anyways. In this case, the user did put the effort in experimenting with different ideas and that lead to him/her getting a lot of help from the community. <commit_msg>Update besmart.md<commit_after>---
layout: essay
type: essay
title: Don't be dumb, be smart
date: 2017-09-01
labels:
  - Engineering
  - Reflection
  - Smart Questions
---

<img class>

There's no such thing as a dumb question, but there are stupid questions. As we continue down our paths as CS students, we will be faced with obstacles/problems. But, what is the right way to ask for help when we get stuck?  The answer to this is very simple and it requires a lot more than just simply asking a generic question, it is called smart questions. Smart questions is an effective way of asking questions without wasting other people's time, is the way I interpret it. Time is money, so when a question is vague or the person asking for help doesn't put the time/effort themselves first, then there is no use in helping. Some characteristics of a smart question include, trying to handle the problem by yourself first, being informative with your questions and always being clear of what you are asking.

As I scrolled through StackOverflow, searching for the most downvoted question I could find. We can see here, in [exhibit A](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14102525/counting-upvotes-and-downvotes) that this is more of a stupid question. Now, it's a question nonetheless dont get me wrong, but the way it was asked is just so "loser" like. The user clearly does not list the steps he/she took in order to tackle the problem by themselves. This does not mean that he/she did not try to solve their problem on their own, but it does give a sense that the user did not try before asking. This is really important because listing down different strategies that were used, can ultimately lead you to solutions that you've never attempted before.

On the other hand, it was quite easy picking a smart question on StackOverflow. In this [example](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/11227809/why-is-it-faster-to-process-a-sorted-array-than-an-unsorted-array), we can see that this is a smart question. Reasons why this question is a smart one is not hard to point out. The user's question was percise and informative, he/she listed the programming language that the problem was located on, which causes no confusion for the people trying to answer. Another way that this is a smart question is that the user listed the different strategies that he/she used to solve the problem. This stands out the most because, why would you want to help somebody that did not take the time to help themselves first? This shows that the user actually attempted the problem and is not showing that he/she is entitled to an answer without putting in effort. It's kind of similar to having a group project, and having that one member that does not contribute but gets the passing grade anyways. In this case, the user did put the effort in experimenting with different ideas and that lead to him/her getting a lot of help from the community. 
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