Asking for help lets you become unstuck whether you're tackling a difficult data problem or trying to figure out your next career move.

Unfortunately, most people don't ask clear questions and then receive answers that don't help them progress.

If you are specific about what you need and why you need it and can articulate what you've tried, people can help you quickly. If they have to start a long conversation trying to tease those details out of you, they might just give up.

Put effort into asking good questions

I enjoy answering questions.

What's really disappointing is when people ask 'lazy questions' such as "how do I get a job as a data analyst". That's not just lazy, it's rude, because for me to give them a good answer, I need to spend several minutes of back and forth trying to find out what they're even asking.

Great questions are a joy to answer.

They:

• are specific,

• concise and direct,

• contain a clear "ask", and

• provide enough background information.

For our example this could be:

"I've been working as a marketing assistant for 2 years and am interested in data. What's one thing I can do in my current job to build more data skills? I'd like to transition to a career as a data analyst eventually."

Boom! What a difference. This one is easy to answer and makes me want to continue the conversation.

If you want to practice this: Make your questions specific, be direct and give people enough context so they can answer easily.