Where I work, our alpha- and beta- and gamma-geeks have the bad habit of penalizing people for asking their assistance in debugging. The penalty is the impatiently-phrased question: "Why did you do it that way?" Worse, the question may well not even apply to the problem at hand.
I know for a fact that I'm not the only programmer on staff who would prefer to spend inordinate amounts of time Googling and experimenting to avoid those seven words (or, more aptly, the tone behind them). The upshot is that hundreds, if not thousands of dollars are wasted in one smallish office. In that light, is super-smart really worth the price if it comes packaged with that attitude?
Please don't make the mistake of thinking that this problem is limited to programmers. I've seen it elsewhere, from people who definitely do not meet the alpha-geek stereotype. So the next time someone comes to you for your assistance, please pay attention to how you help solve their problem. Because shooting the questioner is just as counter-productive as shooting the proverbial messenger in any organization. The organization will pay the price.
