Asking for help

Intro

Sometimes you can problem solve on your own and sometimes you'll need to ask for help.

Problem solving is a big part of coding. You might get stuck trying to create something, or an existing thing will break and you need to figure out how to fix it. It's really common! And what's even more common is asking for help from other people, even people you've never met.

Problem solving

When you get stuck, try the following:

Review your code

  • Check spelling. Even one character out of place often leads to an error
  • Was the correct character/symbol used? (e.g. computer is expecting . but received ,)
  • Are there any red squiggly underlines in your VS Code? That's a helpful hint something is not quite right. Check it out by hovering your mouse over the red underline, which should give you a hint about the issue.

Break it down

Break the problem down in to smaller pieces. What is going on line by line? If there is an error message, what is it telling you? Error messages are helpful hints!

In the Discord channel foundations-help-desk, has someone else already posted about the same issue? Go to the channel and use the search bar.

Use a search engine (e.g. Google, DuckDuckGo, Brave Search) and research. Often, someone else has had the exact same issue and you can learn from it.

  • Try pasting in the error message
  • It can be helpful to specify the language/framework. For example, 'HTML what is the purpose of <!DOCTYPE html> tag', or 'CSS what is difference between class and id' etc.

If you're still stuck, it's time to ask for help.

How to ask for help

When you ask for help in Discord, you want to make it easy for people to read, see what is going on, and understand how they can help you.

Paint a picture to help the person reading your message to help you.

What you need to include:

  1. Describe what you're trying to do.
    • "I'm trying to. . ."
  1. Describe what you think the issue is.
    • "I did A and expected B, but C happened."
  1. Describe what you've already tried (so you don't get irrelevant answers).
    • "I've tried D, E, and F to fix it, but G happened."
  1. If relevant - what language/frameworks are being used, or what operating system and version are you running on?
  1. Post a nicely-formatted code block (more info on how to do this can be found in a pinned message in the foundations-help-desk channel), a screenshot of your browser (if relevant) and the error message.

Where to seek help

  • Ask in the foundations-help-desk channel. This is usually the quickest way to get help
  • Reach out to your Homegroup
  • If you don't get the answer you need from either, then escalate it to a Facilitator.

During Foundations

When you get stuck, try and problem solve for around 20 minutes. After that, reach out and ask for help using the 5-point method above.

  • You may feel slightly anxious asking for help. Please remember you're doing something brand new (likely for the first time in a long time) where you're learning from the start and you're not expected to know everything.
  • Your fellow students are also in the same boat. Everyone will get stuck and ask for help (and that's good and expected!). Helping each other will help your own understanding. Also, the Facilitators are passionate, patient, and there to help you (have fun!). They understand how to break down a concept and convey it.
  • Knowing how to ask for help is an important skill. If you're not sure what to write (because you feel like you "don't know what you don't know"), just try your best. Each time is a learning opportunity and you'll sharpen your skills as you go along.
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