How to Get Help
Learning Goals
- Know how to get help
- Better understand the purpose of Pair with a TC and how it works
Introduction
We don't believe in learning alone. As you make progress, expect to bump into other learners just like you, ready and willing to help each other succeed. Together, we can go further than we could ever go alone. Remember, you are going to get stuck sometimes! As with any new skill you learn, coding can be difficult and frustrating. After a certain point, being stuck on a problem becomes counterproductive — you’re stuck and you need help getting unstuck!
If you get stuck following the instructions or grasping a coding concept, there are a few things you can do. In this lesson, we'll look at some of the options available.
Try Troubleshooting First
Whenever possible, you should try to troubleshoot your issue independently first before seeking help.
Some examples of independent troubleshooting might look like:
- Reading the Readme thoroughly for the lesson you’re on to make sure you’re not missing relevant details
- Reviewing previous lessons that may apply to the error or issue you’re experiencing
- Googling your error or related concepts
- Using debugging tools like Pry to understand your error better (we'll introduce Pry to you soon)
- Checking out Flatiron's help articles — these articles include advice and answers to frequently asked questions from the Flatiron School Team.
Even if you aren't able to find an answer on your own, taking the time to try the options above can help you clarify the question you're asking and eliminate unsuccessful solutions to the problem. Troubleshooting on your own means that when you do reach out, you'll be able to ask better, more specific questions.
Reach Out to Your Peers via Slack
There is a good chance that fellow students have encountered similar challenges to yours. Use the Slack channels available to you to get help.
Equally, if you find someone asking a question that you can provide insight on, please do! One of the best ways to confirm your own understanding of a concept is to try and help someone else understand it.
Pair with a TC
Many aspects of learning are inherently social, and it helps to talk problems through with individuals who have experienced many of the same problems as you! That’s where the Pair with a TC (Technical Coach) tool come in.
What is Pair with a TC?
Our Pair with a TC service is provided by the Academic Success Team at Flatiron School. It is staffed mostly by alumni of Flatiron, many who are full-time developers and are working part-time at Flatiron School to share their wealth of knowledge with current students.
Students can use this service to reach out to a TC to get support as you work your way through the curriculum. The team does not provide any support on projects or assessments, but can jump in a screen share to work with you on environment issues (unrelated to projects or assessments) or help you make progress on curriculum labs.
Lastly, TCs only support enrolled students. Anyone working through prework, try experiences, or alumni in post-work will not get TC support.
What can students expect when using this service?
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The hours for Pair with a TC are Monday-Friday, 9am - 1am ET; Saturday and Sunday 9am - midnight ET
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There will likely be a wait time. We do our best to staff our service in a way that meets demand, but if all of our TCs are tied up with other students in a given period of time, you may need to wait a little to speak live with someone.
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You should expect to screen share, and to pair program with a TC. Our TCs are trained to teach and guide in the same way as your full-time instructors, which means you won’t always get an answer straight away.
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You likely won’t work with a TC all the way through to completing a lab or a final solution. More often than not, they’ll help you get unstuck and give you guidance to continue learning on your own, though you can always pop back in if you get stuck again!
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Our team syncs up with the rest of the instructional staff at Flatiron School. Your interactions on this team won’t happen in a vacuum, and if there is a need to loop in your full-time instructor, we will.
What do TCs expect of students?
- Be kind. We know you might be frustrated or under stress, and we really are here to help you and see you succeed.
- Be patient. We support a whole lot of students, and it’s hard to predict wait times. We’re working as diligently as we can to get through the queue.
- Be collaborative. We aren’t going to code for you, or give you the answers straight away. It’s all a part of the learning process!
How does it all work?
Zendesk Chat is built into Canvas, so as you’re working through the curriculum, you should see a chat box floating in the bottom right corner of your screen:
You’ll be asked to fill out some quick info:
Then you’ll get a response with us giving you some tips on what you can do while you wait, and your position in our queue. If you end up not needing a TC before getting connected to one, you can always click “End Chat” yourself to be removed from the queue.
We love feedback and can only get better when we receive it! Please help us serve you best by letting us know how we did. We want to know what to keep doing, and anything we can do differently:
Once you close your question, you’ll go back to seeing the original button:
Conclusion
Pair with a TC is here to help support you as you continue your journey to learn to code. While ultimately you must hold yourself accountable for learning the concepts in this course, and for developing your debugging skills as a programmer, we are here to support you! If you are stuck, do not hesitate to ask for help!
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