That guy at the coding meetup who told me to 'just read the docs'

Went to a local coding meetup last Tuesday to ask for help with a broken API call I'd been stuck on for 3 days. Some guy in a hoodie just said 'read the docs' and turned back to his laptop without even looking at my code. Like yeah, I've read them 4 times, that's why I'm here asking. Has anyone else run into this kind of gatekeeping at beginner events?

2 comments

2 Comments

rowan_hayes11d ago

That hoodie guy basically sandbagged you. Real talk - some experienced devs forget how hard it was starting out and just parrot the docs line like it's a cure-all. Next time try walking up to someone who looks lost too and ask them what they're working on first. I've found people are way more willing to help if you break the ice with a shared struggle. Also check if the meetup has a Slack or Discord channel - posting your exact error message with a screenshot usually gets better responses when you're stuck.

derekgibson11d ago

Was it really such a big deal though? Some people are just awkward at meetups, might not have been trying to be a gatekeeper.