first-jobjuniordevlearning

How long do you sit stuck before asking a senior for help?

Anonymous26 Jul 2026

My rule is supposed to be 45 minutes. I picked that up from someone on here months ago and I have never once actually followed it. What really happens is I burn two hours, feel bad about the two hours, then ask a question I could have asked at minute ten.

The part I can't calibrate is that both directions look bad. Ask too early and you're the junior who can't work alone. Ask too late and you've quietly torched a day. Last week I sat on a failing test most of an afternoon before saying anything and my lead went "oh, that one's a known flake" in about nine seconds.

Is there an actual heuristic here, or does this just stop mattering once you've been somewhere long enough to know who to ask?

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Anonymous26 Jul 2026
What helped me was making it not a private decision. I say in standup "if the migration thing isn't moving by lunch I'll grab someone". Then asking isn't an admission of anything, it's just the plan I already announced out loud. Took the whole sting out of it.
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Anonymous26 Jul 2026
The version that stuck for me was less about time and more about what I can show. If I can't write down what I tried and what I expected to happen instead, I'm not stuck yet, I'm just flailing, and another twenty minutes is fine. Once I can write those two lines the question is worth someone's time and it usually takes them thirty seconds to answer.

Also, your lead identifying a known flake in nine seconds is the argument for asking sooner, not later.
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