We often say a developers best friend is StackOverflow. And that is true for 90% of the cases. But what if your best friend disappoints you? You cannot find the solution of your issues there. Has happened with a handful of times so I’d like to share the unconventional sources I’ve been for help when I do not find the solution after trying for ages, have no online help on the usual websites or the apocalypse is near and I need to save the world via my code.
DISCLAIMER : If you’re already going for these options before exploring StackOverflow, Github, Web documentation etc you’re doing it all wrong.
#1 Facebook groups – I’m not a fan of Facebook at all so this is a tale from ancient times. The issue was related to video playback. I had to play videos from server but there was a specific requirement for security that my junior dev head couldn’t be wrapped out. So after using up all my lives on the usual websites I went ahead and asked for help in a Facebook group for developers. To my surprise – IT WORKED !! Some of the advantages of Facebook groups are –
- People use social media more than StackOverflow so there’s a greater chance your query will be seen sooner
- If you’re lucky to find someone who has the solution you can chat with them personally and seek further help
#2 LinkedIn – Same as fb groups, just more professional and a larger community. I’ll take this opportunity to give a shout out to https://www.linkedin.com/groups/121874/ which has helped me in the past. Highly recommend for iOS.
#3 YouTube – You’ll most likely not find a solution to your issue in the first 5 searches/pages, specially if your issue is a peculiar one. The trick here is to go deep in the dungeons, go through the suggested videos and keep going till you find something useful or decide it’s time to look for another way.
#4 Code-level Support – Now this is Apple only. But if you have any issues related to Apple frameworks, APIs or tools you could request a code-level support from them. I’d suggested doing it only when you have exhausted all your options and going through the details here – https://developer.apple.com/support/technical/ before doing so.
À la fin, here’s an inspiring video from none other than the great Steve Jobs on asking for help – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkTf0LmDqKI
