from Hacker News

As an engineer, I'd rather be called stupid than stay silent

by codeman001 on 3/20/25, 9:13 AM with 14 comments

• by 1970-01-01 on 3/20/25, 1:57 PM

  >Plus, asking a ‘stupid’ question won’t get you fired

  That depends on charisma. If you're so out of touch that your question drops a level of confidence in your work, you're done. This is corporate politics 101.

• by maayank on 3/20/25, 12:02 PM

  Yes, but it requires a truly disciplined management layer to foster such an environment, e.g. not commenting negatively in 1:1s on the comments of a 3rd party and remediate immediately any such accidental remarks that might hurt the safety to be vulnerable.

• by forinti on 3/20/25, 10:10 AM

  "The man who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the man who does not ask is a fool for life".

  Plus, I like to tell my team: a stupid idea can be the seed of a good one.

• by svilen_dobrev on 3/20/25, 10:16 AM

  stupid questions are the most important ones - they mean something very deep is missing / misty / doubtful / wrong. Smart ones are usually on the surface.. "assuming" the depth is okay.

  https://journals.biologists.com/jcs/article/121/11/1771/3003...

• by nyeah on 3/20/25, 12:42 PM

  Great advice. I think it's one good rule. It needs to be combined with other good rules, like "meeting time can be precious".

• by trescenzi on 3/20/25, 1:01 PM

  The opposite of this, actively over explaining, is also a great way to grow trust and your career. By trying to anticipate questions when communicating at work, or writing code, you open up the room for others to ask questions and speed up finding solutions especially in situations like in the article.

• by SideburnsOfDoom on 3/20/25, 10:39 AM

  See also "The Stupidity Manifesto"

  https://insimpleterms.blog/the-stupidity-manifesto

  "LET’S STOP MAKING EACH OTHER FEEL STUPID. Instead, let’s encourage everyone to ask questions"