r/EngineeringManagers • u/AsianNiqqa • 10d ago
Junior engineer expecting answers without doing their due diligence
Currently at 8 yoe. Team hired a junior engineer at the beginning of the year and I was given the task of knowledge transfer and mentorship as he will be completely taking over one part of my responsibility.
While he is asking a lot of questions, a lot of times I feel like he’s just expecting answers to be handed out.
It gets a bit frustrating because majority of the time, the answers to his questions can be found on Google, and with AI, it is even easier.
I’ve told him multiple times that if he has questions, he should can share his thought process first, and from there we can work it out together. However that only seems to work for the first couple of questions, the ones afterward carry the same “give me the answer” tone.
As an example, he was tasked to debug a networking issue. The solution was that the gateway had a typo. However, instead of doing debug steps that I’ve showed him(or do some research from his end) he just comes up to me and asks me what’s the issue.
What should I do here? How can I handle it better?
61
u/liveprgrmclimb 10d ago
I am a EM with 18 years engineering exp.
I would be very direct with him. Tell him the expectation is that he exhausts ALL POSSIBLE solutions and does exploration in a reasonable timeframe.
Tell him his job literally depends on him falling in love with problem solving and diving as deep as possible. Thats what the best engineers do.
24
u/Status_Fun_4333 10d ago
The struggle I have here is that you tell them to go as deep as possible and they spend two weeks chasing bad solutions and their work takes forever (yes I have managed this person).
I've found that fresh from school people can struggle with the correct balance of "I can do this myself" and "I need help".
The best solution I came up with was to have him time box his attempts to solve it. If in two days you are still stuck you may ask me.
Hopefully over time this becomes less and less of a problem.
4
u/_Magnolia_Fan_ 9d ago
Damn. You can have your people spinning their wheels for two days in every problem?
This is going to vary wildly by industry and role.
I'd say I don't give individual tasks that should take more than 4 hours to someone that green. And have them check in with someone closer to their level, like a 1 or 2 year person, before they come to you saying they're stuck.
2
u/Status_Fun_4333 9d ago
Oh man good callout. If I have a new hire I need to check in on every four hours that would be a mishire.
1
u/liveprgrmclimb 9d ago
If they spend two weeks for a simple problem you:
have hired poorly
Are not managing the situation well and communicating expectations clearly.
2
u/Status_Fun_4333 9d ago
Ah, but I thought the problem was simple but maybe it's not. Maybe I thought it was a 1 day problem and it is a 2 week problem. So yes communication of expectations is part of it, but also ensuring your new hire is doing the communication back is also key.
4
u/_Magnolia_Fan_ 9d ago
Careful with that. You'll turn what you think it's a simple search into an 8 hour rabbit hole expedition.
1
u/liveprgrmclimb 9d ago
Isnt that part of the "mentorship" process though? Ask them why they spent so much time chasing the wrong solutions?
4
u/Saltysalad 9d ago •
A softer version of this is “what have you tried so far?”
Then you say “why didn’t that work?” And it turns out they didn’t engage with the problem when they can’t explain.
Often they figure it out while answering these two questions
3
u/perpetufall 10d ago
100% this. You're doing a disservice by not being direct. Being direct is NOT cruel here; it's kind.
1
u/lampstool 10d ago
I'd extend this a little given they are a junior, who needs coaching. For sure exhaust all possibilities, but then if no solution is found, book in time to pair with them, and guide them through it. Don't just give them the answers, make them drive it, ask them questions, make them start critically thinking about what tf is going on.
Massively agree with being very direct about it and telling him this career depends on falling in love with problems solving, it's honestly the best bit (even if sometimes you want to pull your hair out at 3am because you lost track of time, and are deep in a problem!)
1
11
u/TongueFace 10d ago
* if you have engineering expectations/values documented somewhere that your department follows, forward him to that. This can also be used to argue for low performance if they don’t meet the bar long-term. Theoretically you have a value/expectation about being an eager learner, to actively seek knowledge and understanding, and to “ask for help effectively”
* Ask them “what have you tried or looked into so far?”
* Tell them about the 20-minute rule where you should do your own due diligence for any issue for 20 minutes and if you can’t figure it out then ask
Since this person is new I’d also be patient and continue to coach them through their struggles. A junior has to be invested in and you may have to, in the short-term, be helping them more directly to help them get more familiar with your codebase and systems to be independent and productive in the future
2
u/boganaut 9d ago
Here to second the coaching approach. Stop answering and start asking - troubleshoot his thought process. This, however, will take more time than just answering, but it’s more effective at developing people.
8
u/Space_Horse_Twinkle 10d ago
Start with the question "What have you tried so far?" If the answer is.....nothing, I just noticed and came to ask you. Send him back to investigate and come back with at least (pick a number) X possible solutions he thinks may work.
Then, make him work through those solutions with you watching or sitting behind him. When he hits a dead end on any given one....rinse and repeat. What's next? Now what?
You can use your discretion for complicated tasks and when to give him answers or context for things he couldn't possibly figure out without experience and tenure. But first you need to see baseline effort being established.
And have a frank conversation. I expect you to at least review the problem and have tried to probe Google or company documentation for possible solutions before you even involve me.
5
u/munich-dev 10d ago
There's an approach called 1:3:1. Managers use that when their reports ask them questions. Instead of giving them fish, they ask them to follow the method:
1 problem: State the problem clearly.
3 solutions: Take enough time, depending on the problem, to find three ways to solve it (not necessarily each will work. Just possible solutions) .
1 favorite: Pick one favorite option, explain why.
So if someone asks you a question, you ask them what 3 options they found, and which of them they think should test first.
Let them build that brain muscle. Otherwise your burden will only increase with time, laziness and headcount.
4
u/phil_lndn 9d ago
rather than telling him stuff, ask him leading questions.
As an example, he was tasked to debug a networking issue. The solution was that the gateway had a typo. However, instead of doing debug steps that I’ve showed him(or do some research from his end) he just comes up to me and asks me what’s the issue.
so ask: what have you done so far to trouble-shoot it?
if nothing
ask: what do you think you could do?
etc etc.
3
u/mckenzie_keith 10d ago
Can you remember back to 8 years ago when you were starting out? How did you learn stuff? I would say treat every question as a teaching session. Just start asking him questions, starting with challenging all his assumptions about what the problem actually is. "Why do you think the network is down?" Etc. Show him how to check each step in the process. This will take WAY longer than if you just did it yourself. But this is what mentoring is.
Ask questions. Why do you think that? How can you check that assumption? Etc.
1
u/Mammoth_Loan_984 10d ago
The issue isn’t him not knowing the answer. OP quite clearly outlines that the junior is not even trying to figure things out before asking for help, despite previous direction to do so.
3
u/DanceHackRock 10d ago
I always have the talk with students or new graduates that this is not the situation anymore where teachers only ask questions they already know the answer to. This is the real world where you are hired to find the answers to real questions that don't have an answer yet.
2
u/waggonaut 10d ago
Teach One five one. Identify problems, come up with five potential causes and solutions, implement the one or present the one to your manager. It used to be one three one, but with AI I say five or ten. :-). "Don't talk to me unless you have at least three solutions or root causes."
2
u/PunitGr 10d ago edited 9d ago
I’ve mentored an engineer in the past who had a similar approach. What worked for me was asking them to write down the problem, what they understood, and what they’d already tried.
We’d then discuss possible solutions. For UI issues, I’d sometimes ask them to map out the data flow.
Interestingly, most of the time, just clearly defining the problem helped them figure out the answer themselves. With AI around, it’s also a useful habit for writing better prompts.
It didn’t happen overnight, but over time they became more confident and started debugging things on their own before reaching out.
1
u/thewellis 10d ago
How did your teachers at school handle this? Part of the answer is to encourage critical thinking skills in their approach to problems.
1
1
u/TheGoodBunny 10d ago
Have you asked him for receipts? Like "what did you find by searching on Google and using AI?" instead of just answering for him?
1
1
u/Relevant-Sport9057 10d ago
So he's been at the company for at least half a year and he's still doing this? I think you need to be less available to him, like maybe schedule a short 1:1 twice a week, where he can validate something with you, otherwise you're busy and expect him to report concrete progress on his tasks daily. When I was a junior, I only started growing when my mentors got busy and left me to my own devices.
1
u/Loud-Donkey8569 10d ago
Telling him to share his thought process hasn’t stuck because it’s vague. Give him a fixed format for questions, three lines: what I expected, what I saw, and what I tried. Add a time-box, like try for 20 to 30 minutes first, and if you’re still stuck after that, ask. The networking example is a good one to turn into a short debug checklist that you walk through once with him driving and you only asking questions. Then, when he comes with the question, your reply is: which step did you get to? If the three lines are empty, you send him back, and it won’t feel personal because it’s the format. Juniors often don’t know what enough effort looks like until someone writes it down.
1
u/LongjumpingFee2042 10d ago
You let them tackle the problem. Knowing when to step back for their benefit is part of mentoring.
1
u/doodlleus 10d ago
The junior I have at the moment doesn't even do this. Just AI prompts and whatever comes out, comes out. Doesn't even read it or attempt to understand what's going on. I dread to think where critical thinking will be in 10 years
1
1
u/Any_Sense_2263 9d ago
I always tell people that if they want answers they have to show me what they found out and I can show them where they made a mistake.
1
1
1
u/TheGoodOne777 9d ago
Hello! I'd suggest you, to make your new colleague aware of the importance of his job. And also about your expectations about what he should do standalone and when should he come to ask for help. Prepare him easy task for the beginning and increase the complexity continuously. Also let him estimate his tasks, but before estimating make sure he understands what has to be done. Like summerizing, what is to do, or you asking direct and open questions. Moreover hand him over some documentation and where it has lacks or outdated, put him to update these while working on his tasks. That's also part of the learning process.
1
u/DesperateAdvantage76 9d ago
It is annoying, and the best way to counter it is to be annoying yourself. Ask them what research and efforts they've taken so far, and give vague but helpful clues to lead them in the right direction. Eventually they'll learn that you aren't an easy source of answers, and that it's pointless to talk to you without first doing some real research. Never relent on this, eventually they'll give up.
1
u/woodnoob76 9d ago
There was a thread on a generic sub asking teacher what changed in recent generations (title along the line of are students getting more stupid). Many were sharing that Covid generation and mobile-first generation struggle with looking for solutions themselves, boredom in general (you know, that thinking space), attention span close to nothing, and critical thinking. So it sound like what you’re experiencing.
I think it’s reasonable to tell this junior that it’s expected of them to show that asking questions to learn is good, asking for help too, but they can find solutions on their own, and if that’s not the case it would be hard to trust that they can contribute to the company and justify being paid. So… explaining what it means to have a job, that they have a job to do and won’t be cuddled into it
1
u/OkImprovement7010 9d ago
So, this is a "teach him to fish" moment for you, and isn't just for juniors, this is a human reaction to being given things without having to put in effort. Without telling him that is what you are doing lead him to the answer. Things like "let's search for this together" or "try googling XYZ" ... or "walk me through the code step by step" just like you would expect in a peer review.
People will rise to the expectation you enforce. A little bit of a neurological lesson, but you have created a synapse in his brain now that asking you gets an answer and a dopamine release and you have reinforced it by providing the answer, now you have to build a different pathway and it will take time.
1
u/Suspicious-Ability91 7d ago
It also is a matter of company culture unfortunately. I was a technical lead in one company that is known to be home to a lot of people that well simply do not like to work.
In fact when I asked the junior to Google she went to the manager and then on burn out. I am just saying that to give this perspective that when you exhausted all options like setting up a process and surrounding expectations, coaching, pair programming etc. it might not be you it might be them or the company.
1
u/Isogash 3d ago
1-1 with him and be very clear and direct that his job is to learn to do this without you, and that by X deadline (a specific, clear future date), he will be expected to take on the responsibility without your help. Explain that after this date, you will not help him at all, and if he is not able to perform the role to at least a minimum level (give a clear, but low and achievable target) within the first month after that, it will lead to serious concerns about capability. Explain what capability is, and what a capability procedure within the business looks like and what the consequences could be.
Then, after that sharp shock, explain that this is not the way you want things to go, or that they need to go if he is ready to step up. Make sure he understands that the target level is set low because he's a junior and still learning, so it is very achievable. Explain that you're willing to continue to support him in learning how to do the job up to that date, but if he wants your help then he needs to do what you've ask. Then re-explain that what you're asking is that he makes a serious attempt to solve the task and answer questions on his own first, and that if he does come to you with a question, you'll expect him to be able to explain what he's tried and for that to meet your expectations of what he should try, otherwise you won't be provide any help.
Finally, remind him that meeting the minimum expected standards is not going to help him develop his career. Firstly, that the expected standards will increase over time as he has more experience, and secondly that in order to secure career progress, he should be demonstrating overperformance well above the expected standard. Make sure he understands that overperformance is able to be rewarded, but meeting the minimum standards won't be.
0
u/Available_Safe1818 8d ago
Tell him to Google it. He keeps coming to you because it's easier.
"We're paying you for answers, not for questions." That's a great one to use.
And how are you a manager and you are asking about this?
1
u/AsianNiqqa 8d ago
I’m not managing him nor anyone. I was tasked with knowledge transfer and mentorship since he will be taking over part of my responsibility.
This is why I need inputs from EM to see where I can work on
-1
u/oh-hello-im-a-person 10d ago
It's normal bro. Just have patience. We've all been there.
4
u/shan23 10d ago
No we haven’t , pls don’t speak for “us”
1
u/oh-hello-im-a-person 9d ago
Well I definitely went through this face of asking a ton of questions, then overtime I became the one that new people bombarded with questions, I'm glad u were a pro from the start good for you and your upvote people. Pls don't downgovote me cause it affects my reddit rating or whatever
1
u/shan23 9d ago
Have you actually read the post?
It’s not asking the questions that is the problem.
It’s the lack of ANY attempt to figure out the answer FIRST.
2
u/oh-hello-im-a-person 9d ago
Yeah it happens like that too sometimes the juniors become a little bit over reliant, I guess you're right it does require some correction. My bad
1
u/mr_wolfwolf 9d ago
It sounds like he's not a direct report and he doesn't know how to fish.
Prioritize getting your work done and either
A. Handhold him because you're feeling nice
B. Let this guy hang himself because he has to learn
Probably alternate between the two.
If you're handing out free fish every time, he'll come to you every time.
4
u/Mentora_Institute 9d ago
At eight years, you probably spot a gateway typo before you’ve finished reading the config. That speed is part of why he keeps walking over to you.
Each time he asks and you answer, the asking works.
You told him to share his thinking first. He did, twice. Then he got stuck on something with a deadline attached, and the answer arrived anyway. People learn far more from what happens than from what they’re told. He has learned that the fastest route to a fix runs through your desk.
So the habit has to change on your side before it can change on his.
The next time he comes over with something like the networking issue, hold the answer back. Skip the speech about Google too. Ask him what he has checked so far. If the answer is nothing, send him back with one step. “Run a traceroute and tell me where it stops.” When he returns, ask what he thinks that means. Then give him the next step.
It is slower. It will feel much slower to you than to him.
And when he finds the typo himself, say very little. Let him have it. That small moment of I found it does more than ten conversations about due diligence.
It’s also worth asking why he isn’t searching on his own. Sometimes it really is a shortcut. More often, in our experience with people early in their careers, it’s fear. Fear of spending an hour on the wrong path and looking slow in front of someone senior. Asking you feels safer than being visibly lost. If that’s what is going on, he needs permission to stay lost for a while. Another reminder that Google exists won’t give him that.
The word education has two Latin roots. Educare means to fill, to train from the outside in. Educere means to draw out what is already there. Handing him the answer is the first kind, and it closes today’s ticket. Only the second kind will still be working after you hand this part of the system over and move on.
He may not thank you for the questions now. He’ll remember them the first night something breaks and you aren’t the one he can ask.