Whenever I go to a meetup, presentation, etc. there is one thing that has always surprised me. People are afraid of saying that they don’t know something.

What usually happens

Usually at the beginning of a presentation the speaker will ask the audience if they have any experience in the topic that he is about to present. I’ve never seen more than a few people raise their hands. Most of the time everyone will sit quietly for the duration. Once the floor is opened for questions there will be an awkward silence that lasts for a short time and the presentation will end.

Why don’t people ask questions?

I don’t think that anyone can give a presentation on a subject to a group of people and everyone will understand everything to the point that there are no questions. I find it specially hard to believe in a deep and complex field like software development.

People have questions, they’re just ashamed of asking them in front of others. This is why many times even though there were no questions you will see people approaching the speaker afterwards and talking to him for some time.

The lie we believe

We’re programmers. We’re smart people. Others come to us when they need difficult problems solved. We feel we shouldn’t let others know when we don’t understand something because it will make us look bad. We can always do some research online afterwards, and no one will know.

This is a very dangerous way of thinking.

Why you should ask questions

One of the main reasons I like going to all the events I can, is precisely so I can discover new things. Sometimes the presentation will be about a new framework or technology that I didn’t know existed. Other times someone will show a way of doing things that I had never thought of before. Many times I’ve had to accept the difficult truth that I’ve been doing things the wrong way. While I don’t like being reminded that I am not all knowing and can make mistakes, I’m always glad of being able to correct the mistakes I have made.

Never be afraid of asking questions. You might be surprised what you learn.