The Importance of Asking Questions

I've learned so much just by asking.

06/08/2026

When I was working as a software developer, I often felt insecure about my understanding of concepts. I could write code, and I could explain how my code worked. But once I started getting questions I hadn’t prepared for, my mind would go blank. Questions like “how does the JS engine work?” or “why is it worth migrating our codebase to use Typescript?” would leave me fumbling and panicked.

The truth was I truly didn’t know the answer a lot of the time. And while it is perfectly fine not to know something, I would never seek out the answer myself. I was so afraid of appearing dumb or lacking that I put myself in a box and didn’t allow myself the freedom of admitting I don’t know, asking questions, and thus expanding my understanding.

In retrospect, this thinking only held me back. I am not dumb or lacking. But in refusing to fill in my very real knowledge gaps by asking questions like “how does this work” and “why does this work the way it does” I was preventing myself from growing both personally and professionally. And I was definitely not the best developer I could have because of this. I let pride and the fear of looking stupid prevent me from really learning by digging into the heart of how things work.

This not only impacted my self-esteem, but it also affected my love for technology and coding. I struggle with not being “good” at something right away, and while I love coding it does not come easily to me. Leetcode is my nemesis, and I still tend to avoid it because I struggle to solve the problems (leading to plummeting self-confidence). I couldn’t confront my weaknesses because I thought it meant I could not be a software engineer. So I shied away from digging deeper into interests and practicing Leetcode to become a better programmer. Eventually, I became so isolated from the field I once loved that I couldn’t remember why I entered it to begin with, and eventually ended up on a wholly different path.

Now that I have had that long-needed break from software development, it was easier for me to take a step back and really look at why I struggled so much in the last few years. I came to the realization that a lot of it was my own making. And with time, I became willing to put myself in those uncomfortable positions that I could not have handled 2 years ago. I started reading about programming and, of course, asking questions.

Once I learned to ask myself questions about anything I didn’t feel confident to explain myself, a new world opened up to me. I am devouring articles and videos explaining the core of things. I was curious about why terminal emulators like ghostty and kitty end in “tty”, and discovered a great article explaining how the modern terminal is structured . I have used JS runtimes like Node since I first started coding, but I didn’t really understand how they worked. I found a great article that thoroughly explains the JS engine/runtime and loved learning about how tools I used every day work under the hood.

This personal renaissance has brought me so much joy. I feel comfortable asking questions, no matter how simple or “obvious”. I truly enjoy learning about topics I used to avoid at any cost. And I am having fun in the process!

So learn from me and ask away. Ask the question on the tip of your tongue, and dont worry about being judged for it. Whether you’ve been in a profession for 1 year or 20 years, there is always something new you can glean from asking questions. And enjoy the process!