Over the last two months of phase 0, I've directed a number of questions at guides and pairing partners. Why isn't this passing rspec? What's wrong with my syntax? What am I doing? While these questions have been vital to my learning experience, I've also learned that there are best practices for asking questions in order to receive fruitful responses. In particular, I believe that specificity is key.
The first time I really thought about the specificity of my questions was during a tutoring session. In preparation, the tutor asked me to send her an email detailing what I wanted to cover.
At the time, I wanted to review attr_readers, attr_writers, and attr_accessors, but hadn't thought about what I wanted to ask about them. I understood their differences, but wasn't clear when it was more appropriate to use one or the other in a production environment. Following the tutor's email, I decided to frame my question in the context of real-life examples, to which the tutor responded with specific examples when you would want to use one over the others.
While it isn't always possible to ask a specific question—especially when everything is new and overwhelming—narrowing down your questions is conducive to receiving productive responses and promoting self-awareness in your own learning.