20/40 Rule

Every senior developer knows that there are generally two types of junior developers: those who ask questions constantly without first attempting to solve the problem on their own, and those who stay silent, only for you to discover they’ve spent the entire day trying to solve a problem they could have resolved in minutes if they had asked for help.

The challenge is that when you tell the first type to try solving problems on their own before asking, they often become the second type, and vice versa.

I’ve found that the 20/40 rule works quite well in this situation. The rule is simple and effective: spend at least 20 minutes trying to solve the problem before asking for help, but don’t spend more than 40 minutes on the problem without further assistance.

This rule won’t solve every challenge with junior developers, but at least it gives you time to grab a cup of coffee before helping them again. :)