Dear Dev — Let’s talk about crumbs, coding instincts, and asking for help.

One of THE most important instincts you need to start honing as a software developer is the ability to know when you can push through on a task and when it’s better to ask for help. This can be a very, very tricky instinct to learn, but I have some tips to help you navigate the line between the two.

I call it the “Breadcrumb Rule” or the 3-30 Rule. Breadcrumbs are clues in our code or our environments that lead us to solutions. This rule is meant to showcase what we try to do on my team, but be sure to check the requirements with your school or your collaborators!

Here’s a breakdown:

✅ Do you have an active breadcrumb to follow? This can be terminal feedback, a console or debugger error, or a log entry. Even if you don’t fully understand the meaning, the next step is to read it (again!) and do a Google search for your next breadcrumb.— KEEP GOING

✅ Have you been “stuck” for fewer than 30 minutes? — KEEP GOING!

✅ Is there enough time between your work and the deadline that other team members won’t be negatively impacted if you need to work through the problem for another hour? — KEEP GOING!

✅ If a teammate asked you to talk through the current state of the code, could you verbally walk through your objectives *and* what you’ve already tried without getting dizzy? — KEEP GOING!

✅ Are you still within the quoted scope of time for a task? — KEEP GOING!

⛔️ Have you been without a new breadcrumb or code clue for 30 minutes AND have you tried at least 3 things on your own? — STOP AND ASK FOR HELP

⛔️ Are you turned around in the code to the point you could not confidentially verbalize your objective or any instinct for a solution? — STOP AND ASK FOR HELP

⛔️ Do you feel you could push forward productively but need help finding a resource to learn more about a topic after checking internal and external documentation? — STOP AND ASK FOR HELP

⛔️ Is the deadline so close that your teammates will now be negatively impacted if you don’t get a solution in the next hour? — STOP AND ASK FOR HELP

⛔️ Are you at risk of going over a quoted time for a task if you don’t make forward progress? — STOP AND ASK FOR HELP

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It’s important to be autonomous and work on our own, but it’s equally important to make that autonomous progress productive and meaningful. The goal with the Breadcrumb Rule is to get another breadcrumb or code clue — not to have the solution given to us. We don’t want to spin our wheels, but we need those wheels to also go in a positive direction!

Remember, we’re all learning and no software developer has all the answers. It’s okay to not know. It’s NOT okay to not learn.

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What’s your tip for knowing the line between trying again and asking for help with your code?