Getting your info

I thought there was no one to go to. There was no solution I could see to this specific problem. And there it was: the internet!

The cool thing about the internet is that there is very little you can think of that isn’t already on there. Sometimes that’s funny, sometimes that’s quite disturbing but mostly it’s very handy indeed.

Because no matter how difficult this problem of yours is, or how technically inclined or how rare it is, there is a significant chance that someone, somewhere has had the same problem – and has solved it in some way. The trick is getting there.

Blogs

I keep track of a large series of blogs in order to keep up with what’s out there, so that I may learn from possible issues in advance. Be it learning new things or fixing old things, if you follow the people on the frontiers you have a decent shot at picking up information you didn’t know before.

If you want to get into PHP, PHPDeveloper.org and planet-php.net are excellent resources.

Search engines

If you are faced with a specific issue and don’t have a solution ready, some market research may be in order. Using google (are there others? Really?) can be a specialization in itself. This is not by any means specific to software development!

Don’t be afraid to use google before asking dumb questions. Websites like let me google that for you may be very funny, but it’s only funny because it’s true. Asking questions you could have easily looked up can be a very annoying thing.

Also, don’t be discouraged by poor results. Try other terms, try refining and if you have to, look beyond the first page of links.

Ask your peers

If the internet does not have any documented case of your particular problem, try poking your peers (gently). What works for me in talking to my co-workers, is thinking about the costs (© Joel Spolsky, scroll a bit down). If I take some of their time to answer a question of mine, it may cost them 10 seconds to answer my question and 15 minutes to get back into the zone. But if I don’t, it will take me x time to solve the problem. If their help costs the company more than it saves, I don’t ask.

Message boards and forums

If nothing proves successful, try posting about it. Mention the problem, the context and what you have and haven’t tried already. Don’t hold out on the info; you’re asking these people for valuable time in order to read and respond!

Become the REAL go-to-guy

I believe that these steps can help you in becoming a very valuable team player. By providing value, rather than protecting your domain, you help the people around you and become a better professional yourself.