Let’s be honest—no one wants to look like they don’t know what they’re doing.

Especially in tech, where so much of our identity gets tied to what we know, the fear of asking a “basic” question can be paralyzing. You hesitate, reread the docs five times, open 12 Stack Overflow tabs, and still… you stay silent in the meeting or Slack thread. Because asking might “make you look junior.”

But here’s the truth most people won’t admit:

Every developer—no matter how senior—Googles basic stuff daily.

The imposter syndrome is real. And the pressure to “already know” everything often stops us from learning anything new at all.

So why is our culture like this?

We praise growth, but shame the early stages of it.

We say “ask questions,” but reward performance over vulnerability.

We worship seniority, but often forget how painful the road to it actually was.

And the irony? The best engineers I’ve worked with are the ones who ask the most questions. Not because they don’t know anything—but because they care enough to understand deeply. They’d rather look “dumb” for 2 minutes than ship something broken for 2 weeks.

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Let's Shift the Culture

• Have you ever held back a question and regretted it?

• What’s something “basic” you had to relearn recently?

• How can teams create safer environments for questions?

Let’s make curiosity a badge of honor—not a red flag.

Because we’re not paid to know everything.

We’re paid to figure it out—together.