Coworker: "can you help me with this thing?"
Me: "sure, what have you tried so far"
Them: "nothing yet"

Hdhajsgrbeiry JUST TRY _SOMETHING_ AT LEAST BEFORE ASKING FOR HELP.

It's literally your job to solve problems, not get other people to solve them for you.

Asking for help if you don't understand something is one thing, but constantly trying to get people to show you exact examples is not doing your job.

This has been a chronic problem with one of our devs and despite advising them multiple times on it, it continues to happen.

I had a coworker who was like this, but the added bonus of when they DID try something, and got it wrong, refused to listen to any explanation of how it was wrong or could be done differently to get the expected outcomes.

Example

“Hey CT my tv won’t go to channel 6”
“That’s a microwave”
“I know it’s a microwave, but I want to watch the channel 6 news”
“….it’s a microwave. You can’t watch tv on it”
“CT I KNOW what this is, just help me watch channel 6”
“You’re telling me you know what it is, but you keep insisting on using it for something it’s not meant to do. Why not just get a tv?”
“Because I want to use this!”
“Oh okay. I see. Well I’m not sure I can help. Good luck”

@ComputerToucher oof that sounds super familiar to what I'm running into. I don't know why the trend lately has been to ignore advice and continue on with a crap method just so it seems like you know what you're talking about, but I've met a LOT of devs over the past few years that do that.

I don't CARE if you don't know something. Just be honest and I can help guide you, but don't pretend you know when you don't. It's incredibly obvious to folks who are more experienced

@ComputerToucher > “Oh okay. I see. Well I’m not sure I can help. Good luck”

...later

Boss: "CT, we need to talk. Billy says you refuse to help with a simple question and became hostile."

CT: "The dumb-ass was trying to watch TV on a microwave so technically yes, I refused to do something stupid."

Boss: "What? You must have misunderstood. No one is that dumb. You probably need to do better with your communication. I've scheduled time with HR to coach you on being a better communicator. In the mean time, here are some books I want you to read on being a team player. You're welcome."

> "It's literally your job to solve problems, not get other people to solve them for you."

Sounds like someone on his way to management. Not kidding.

@PaperTrail Holy shit did just get pip’d on devRant?? 😂

@PaperTrail I have no interest in going into management. I just can't stand people who don't even make an attempt to do their job.

"so what are you going to do?"
"dunno"
"that was the 5 minute help session you need to pay more if you want another"

use this, in case you need ideas:
https://youtu.be/ohDB5gbtaEQ

I had an employee like that. This person was really insecure and scared. I got sick of it and said firmly but nicely, "You know how to do this. You know how to solve any issue that pops up. This is your responsibility now. You got this."

It helped a lot.

@Nexion > " I just can't stand people who don't even make an attempt to do their job"

Ditto.

I've seen my fair share of managers promoted when their entire career has been "Hey, can you do X for me?"

@ComputerToucher > "pip’d on devRant??"

What does "pip'd" mean?

I'm not hip on new lingo the kids use these days.

Here 'PIP' is Performance Improvement Plan. That means you've pissed off a manager (made him/her look bad to their boss, etc) and its a passive-aggressive mechanism to justify being fired. I'm am quite familiar with PIP.

That is the main difference between code monkeys and developers: The latter actually do the research. The former just ask the latter.

The junior i work with does this all the time. "The program wont flash to the PLC!!! NVM i forgot to turn on the power supply!" "Hey Galena, can you help me with this system you know jack shit about. And still manage to get more work done in it than me!" And running into constant problems when the workflow isnt really cookie cutter pieces he already knows.