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I'm just wondering; if the Stack Overflow programmers are stuck on a problem related to their job, do they also ask a question on Stack Overflow?

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    Why would they not? It's the world's number one place to ask programming questions. Many programmers don't have a lot of questions, though, because they tend to rely on their own research. Commented May 16, 2016 at 11:33
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    (If you want a real answer, look at employees' SO profiles. e.g. stackoverflow.com/users/115866/balpha?tab=questions, stackoverflow.com/users/13249/nick-craver?tab=questions ...) Commented May 16, 2016 at 11:33
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    ObTwitter: twitter.com/jakevdp/status/625349748292071424 "StackOverflow devs have the hardest job on the internet… when the site goes down, they have to fix it without StackOverflow" #PyData. :) Seriously though, in that situation, they can access the database directly. Commented May 16, 2016 at 13:00
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    @Pekka웃: Heh, burn. Commented May 16, 2016 at 14:40
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    @PM2Ring: Not when it's the database that's gone down, which I believe to be the most common case. Commented May 16, 2016 at 14:40
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    @LightnessRacesinOrbit: Ah, good point. Commented May 16, 2016 at 14:47
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    @LightnessRacesinOrbit: Obviously this is the real reason they tolerate "SCRAPER"s Commented May 16, 2016 at 15:01
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    The real question is if the people who work at Stack Exchange post on The Workplace if they have troubles at work? Commented May 17, 2016 at 2:59
  • @JonH why a lousy question? I found it interesting (not that that's any indication of quality mind - I answer all sorts of rubbish! - alas I'm often a whore) Commented May 17, 2016 at 17:45
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    @MichaelB - Umm the people who create the site not using the site? What kind of application are you writing if you don't use it. Secondly, opening any of the developers profiles on stackoverflow gives you their activity including questions or answers. It's rubbish and worthy of closure. Commented May 17, 2016 at 17:46
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    Yeah, but I a) hadn't thought of it, b) don't know who / how to find developers profiles c) to lazy to do so anyway ;) so for me, it was fun (we're allowed fun in these parts right?) Commented May 17, 2016 at 17:50
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    @MichaelB It's a lousy question because of the laziness implied by the lack of easily accessible research that would've avoided this question. If a person is too lazy to at least try to solve their own problem why should we put effort into solving it for them? Even without checking the staff's profiles, it's pretty obvious the devs would use the site's knowledge for reference--why wouldn't they?! As for "fun", if a question like this is your idea of entertainment, well... each to their own I guess. Personally, I find comedies, computer games and rollercoasters fun. Commented May 17, 2016 at 18:26
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    @Pekka웃 "Many programmers don't have a lot of questions" ... this is because someone else has already asked the question on StackOverflow lol Commented May 17, 2016 at 20:04
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    @SpaghettiCat I'd say with 113 votes and 4k views, there's a lot of us lazy folk about ;) (hello fellow lazy folk!) Commented May 18, 2016 at 6:59
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    It seems, people who voted to close this question do not agree with 117 up-voters on the question itself and 173 on first answer! Commented May 19, 2016 at 3:42

2 Answers 2

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I'm just wondering; if the Stack Overflow programmers are stuck on a problem related to their job, do they also ask a question on Stack Overflow?

Yes, we do.

As one of the founders of Stack Overflow said (paraphrased) "A tool to help us build the tool"...

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    Based on your profile you were only stuck 33 times ... respect man, respect. Commented May 16, 2016 at 11:48
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    @rene - no way. I got stuck many many times. I only asked 33 times, many of the other times - there was an answer on Stack Overflow already. Commented May 16, 2016 at 13:05
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    Its turtles, all the way down... :-) Commented May 16, 2016 at 13:06
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    The term you were looking for is dogfooding. Commented May 16, 2016 at 14:25
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    Isn't that the definition of stuck? When there's no answer on Stack Overflow already? Commented May 16, 2016 at 14:45
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    Example 1, Example 2... Commented May 16, 2016 at 16:17
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    @ivarni I totally agree, as a beginner programmer I really am sometimes literally dependent of stackoverflow. The number of times i would have been stuck would also overflow. Commented May 16, 2016 at 20:05
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    I would cry and quite programming if SO ever went away. The scraper sites and terribly formatted forums with 14 year-olds acting smug is more of a nightmare than a modern-day prohibition :-( Commented May 16, 2016 at 21:12
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    I can also relate to this this situation more times than I can remember Commented May 16, 2016 at 21:14
  • Wait. Was the tool you're trying to build StackOverflow or something else? Commented May 17, 2016 at 2:49
  • @ThomasW - it certainly was at the time. The beta was used in order to build up the beta... Commented May 17, 2016 at 7:46
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    @MonkeyZeus I think the worst one I ran into was when I googled a topic and the top two hits were questions I posted about it on SE a few months prior. Which had no answers. I did get a tumbleweed badge out of it, though... Commented May 17, 2016 at 14:45
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    What, so nobody actually knows what they're doing? Commented May 17, 2016 at 15:40
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    @Ted - just watch politics for 5 minutes to make that realization really hit home. Commented May 17, 2016 at 15:47
  • Paraphrasing Lazarus Long, "Stack Overflow is based on the assumption that a million people are wiser than one person." Commented May 17, 2016 at 16:12
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The number of questions I post/ed on SO is inversely proportional to my programming experience. Experienced programmers rarely get stuck and know where to read stuff (books, some blogs, & ofcourse trying things out in test projects) to help them solve problems.

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    But to use SO also means to write answers, and that's where experienced programmers shine, no ? Commented May 18, 2016 at 9:45
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    If only this answer was true. Often I get stuck even in languages that I'm pretty profficient with, although in some cases this turns out to be a bug. Commented May 18, 2016 at 9:59
  • @PierreHenry The question is about programmers at SO asking questions on SO. I am sure your comment was a tongue in cheek. +1 Commented May 18, 2016 at 23:23

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