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most of the time when people don't ask questions in industry, it isn't because they already know the answers, it's because they don't care what the answers are

blogging is culturally different because there's way more exhibitionism involved



Don't you think, as others in this thread are saying, that one reason people don't ask questions is because they're afraid to admit their lack of knowledge?

We've probably all been in one of those meetings where something is being proposed, and everyone is nodding vaguely along but you're not sure the proposal is correct. Do you ask a clarifying question (and risk seeming foolish for not knowing something obvious) or just let it pass because everyone else seems happy with it?


> Do you ask a clarifying question (and risk seeming foolish for not knowing something obvious) or just let it pass because everyone else seems happy with it?

Two different kinds of foolish here: etiquette or technical

In some meetings if it's management and senior leadership grilling a design, if some unrelated IC butts in with a bunch of questions that are 5 steps behind everyone else it's sort of a faux pas


Right -- there isn't a single answer, it's very context dependent. I do think many ICs lean too far in the direction of keeping quiet, though.

(Managers too, come to think of it. You can feel overawed by skilled ICs and chicken out of asking naive but crucial questions.)




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