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Asking For Help

During Normal Weeks

Please make sure to read the One-on-Ones guidelines!

We ask that you take the following steps when dealing with technical questions...

  1. Try something else
  2. Google your exact problem or error
  3. Reference the appropriate lesson plan
  4. Ask another classmate
  5. Ask an instructor

If your question is non-technical -- you're feeling overwhelmed, or you have questions about a homework or project prompt -- please reach out directly to an instructor as soon as possible.

After 5pm, aside from during office hours, instructors may not be able to respond to technical questions until the following morning.

During Project Weeks

GitHub issues are the most useful method for answering technical questions. 90% of the time, at least one instructor will be dedicated to monitoring issues at all times during business hours. The other 10% will be announced in advance on Slack.

Issues should follow this format:

I tried ___.
I expected ___ to happen.
___ happened instead.
My repo link is ___ and my question is about lines ___.

Just click this handy link to create an issue with these blanks inserted for you!

Please close your issues when you've received a satisfactory answer, and let us know what the solution was! We'll close issues that have gone more than 30 minutes without any updates.

Note: Issues can only be reopened by instructors. Therefore, should your issue get closed, please create a new issue, and if it's applicable to your previous issue, just include a link to the previous issue.

Why Issues?

Many reasons! The biggest is that programmers often have the same question. This way, students with the same question can find their answer in one place.

Additionally, having to articulate the question into words is very helpful in understanding the problem. Sometimes, simply articulating the question gives you the answer!

How?

Below is a guide for the information that must be included when submitting an issue. (You can also use the handy template above.) It is expected that you will try to debug/solve an issue prior to submitting a request for help on Github.

Context

When submitting an issue, please provide some context as to what the problem is. This includes but is not limited to:

  • What user story you are currently working on
  • What you are trying to do (in terms of code)
  • Detailed description of the bug or error
  • Relevant code/files/errors (and screenshots if applicable)
  • Gems and/or other technologies being used (if applicable)

Approaches Tried

Give information about what you have done to solve the problem. Including but not limited to:

  • Documentation you have looked at
  • Steps you have taken to solve the problem
  • Resources you have used

Can students respond to other students' issues?

YES!

So, when should I seek out an instructor in-person?

We really want you talk to us when it's an emotional issue more than a technical one.

For technical problems, seek us out in person when you've submitted an issue, and have spent more than 15 minutes trying to solve the problem yourself, 15 minutes Googling, and 15 minutes asking other students for help (in-person, on Slack, etc).