💬Community Channels

Introduction

The Rocket LMS platform (rocket.disco.co) provides community channels for real-time but asynchronous messaging that should feel casual and fun. We have provided with a selection of channels, e.g. #general for you to keep in touch with your classmates and instructors.

Discussion Channels House Rules

The following are a set of guidelines to follow when using discussion channels at Rocket. By setting strong culture of messaging on this platform for questions and discussion we hope to further enhance the Rocket Fundamentals experience.

Ask Questions in the Channel

During Rocket's courses you will have questions about the material. To ensure your questions get answered soonest and so others can help and learn, please ask questions in the batch-wide or section-wide channel (including about installing required software). Therefore, please refrain from DMing (direct messaging) instructors with questions about course material.

Provide Context for Questions

To get help effectively, we need to provide context. One of the biggest differences between junior and senior engineers is the amount of relevant context they provide with their questions.

Questions without context usually sound like: "It doesn't work. Could you help?" A question with relevant context might be more like: "Program A is giving me Error X. I didn't expect X to happen because of Logic B. When I googled X, it told me that this might be related to Y, but I don't see Y anywhere in the system."

Contextual questions help the answerer by filling in the details needed to fully understand the question. In the field of programming (not just for students) it is well known that simply formulating the question often leads directly to the answer. This is called rubber-duck programming.

How to ask contextual questions

Try to answer the following when asking questions. What is the problem? Include any relevant error messages in text or screenshots. What is your hypothesis? Include relevant code snippets. What have you tried? Include any relevant output or Google results. This will not only assist the person helping you, it will actually make you a better coder.