Ali Spittel

Posted on Jul 30, 2019 • Edited on Oct 28, 2019

What's your favorite question to be asked?

#discuss #watercooler

My favorite icebreaker question is "What's your favorite question to be asked?" because it really sparks relationships and further questions! So, what's yours?

Top comments (72)

Jason C. McDonald • Jul 30 '19

"What's causing this segfault in my code?"

Sung M. Kim • Jul 30 '19 • Edited

"Why" questions.
Typically "why did do you do it this way?".

because they usually help me back-track & explain what happened.
(translated, they make me "think" 🧠)

kaelscion • Jul 31 '19 • Edited

I'm high functioning autistic and the number 1 question i get asked when people find that out (usually a couple months after they meet me) is some variant of: "oh, is that why youre good at...?"

It used to really aggravate and insult me. But now, I use it as an excuse to be funny like "no, I was bitten by a computer that was mutated in a government lab" or "actually, I was exposed to a radioactive guitar and piano. Don't make me angry or I'll play freeform jazz..." 😁😁😁😝😝

Ben Sinclair • Nov 13 '19

Fell into the toxic waste outside a banjo factory.

Ben Halpern • Jul 30 '19 • Edited

How can I make my website faster?

As long as they’re not looking for details on specific frameworks and more general principles, I know I have a lot to say!

Kaushal Gautam • Oct 7 '19

Would you consider writing more posts on that front, Ben? :)

Ashlee (she/her) • Jul 31 '19

I honestly really enjoy the "interesting fact" question because it gives me an excuse to talk about my three-legged pitbull. 🐕

Tyler V. (he/him) • Jul 31 '19

Sounds like a real trooper 😉

Vicki Langer • Dec 18 '19

😂 I see what you did there.

Adnan Rahić • Jul 31 '19

I've done a lot of mentoring and teaching in the past and what most people ask me is the stereotypical:

"How do I become a senior developer like you?"

My responses may vary based on my mood for cracking a joke, but they always boil down to something like this...

"Forget about taglines, senior, junior, 10x freaking unicorn, or rockstar. It means absolutely nothing in the real world. What you should give a crap about is how to bring engineering back into the art of being a software engineer. Learn core concepts of algorithms and problem solving. Learn how to take responsibility for the code you write. Learn how to own it! Own your code and everything you do. Your job is not done until the code is running in production, and your customers have a fast, responsive and, most importantly, working app. Then you are an engineer, not just a coder."

☝️ That's the short version. 😄

Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard • Oct 3 '19

Are you doing a lot of algorithms in your job?
I feel that the real problems I am solving involves "soft" skills much more than maths skills.

Adnan Rahić • Oct 3 '19

Definitely! I like to train people's mindset. It doesn't get softer than that. Building their understanding of responsibility and understanding of how to be an engineer is more important than learning algorithms by heart. Learn how to solve problems. Learn how to communicate without exhibiting senseless ego and pride. That's what it's all about. ✌️

Michael Tharrington • Jul 31 '19

Definitely feel like this deserves a post. I'd check it out for sure.

Robin Kretzschmar • Jul 31 '19

So I am curious now: What do music and math have in common? :)

Casey Brooks • Jul 31 '19

I love when I'm writing code, and people ask what I'm working on.

If I'm working on client projects, I get to then talk to them about the life of a software consultant, and how much more there is to development than just writing code.

If I'm working on anything else, I get to talk about the amazing OSS communities I'm involved in.

And in both cases, I get to try and teach the asker about the specific code I'm working on, and get to hopefully teach them something new (even if they're not programmers!)