• Question: what do you do if you get stuck on anything

    Asked by Star boy to Shruti, Mark, Faranak, Douglas, Charlene, Alistair on 7 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Shruti Turner

      Shruti Turner answered on 7 Mar 2019:

      I get stuck on things all the time! That’s part of being a researcher, we’re pushing the boundaries of what is already known. Thankfully, there are a lot of ways we can get un-stuck. My first port of call is Google to be totally honest. If it’s a specific little thing like I’ve got an error with my code or I can’t remember the equation for something or if it’s a term I don’t understand. If that doesn’t help and it’s something the other engineers/PhD students/researchers around me might know, I’ll ask them. The great thing about our office is that it’s not a designated silent working zone. Whilst most people respect the work environment and keep conversations to a minimum, it’s not a problem to ask a quick question or get some clarification. If it’s something more ‘big picture’ about my project as a whole or whether my presentation is good enough or something I save that up for a team meeting or meeting my supervisor. That way I get feedback and help at a time designated to that sort of thing.
      When all else fails, I make myself a cup of tea and go back to pen and paper. I get my coloured pens out and post-it notes and I try and work through the problem. I start with my problem in a big coloured bubble and then I put down everything I know, what I don’t know, what I need and sort of map out the issue. I find when it’s all jumbled up in my head, I can’t sort it. When it’s out on paper/post it notes, I can separate it into sections, I can rearrange it, I can colour code it. That normally helps me see things much more clearly. (And in case you’re wondering, the tea is a vital component!)

    • Photo: Douglas Wragg

      Douglas Wragg answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      What an interesting question.
      In my work, there is only one thing that you can do when you are stuck, and that is to back to the basics, because somewhere along the line, you have made a mistake, or made an assumption that has confused the issue.
      I hope that is of some help.

    • Photo: Alistair McConnell

      Alistair McConnell answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      The whole of my work and my life at University is solving problems and a lot of these are problems no one has solved before so I often get stuck.
      Google is the first place I look, then my colleagues and then if they haven’t work I try to sleep on the problem and come at it from a different angle the next day.
      I like to do a complete brain dump on paper just throw everything I can think of about the problem and similar ones on a page and then try to make sense of it and normally after drawing many lines and use much paper I come to an answer.

    • Photo: Mark Bentley

      Mark Bentley answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      Cry…….

      No not really (even though I feel like I want to sometimes!!!)

      It’s best to have a little break from it, start on another job, have a tidy….maybe make a cup of tea.

      If it’s a tough one wait a few days, inspiration for me will come when out for a run or on my bike most times

      If I’m really stuck have a chat with my other engineering friends 🙂

    • Photo: Faranak Bahrami

      Faranak Bahrami answered on 10 Mar 2019:

      There are loads of times that you get stuck when you are trying to solve something job related or even in life 🙂 I would think everything through again, consider everything that I haven’t considered before and might help me to solve the problem, I would try those things, if I still can’t solve, it would seek advice from someone who is more experienced and might know better how to help

    • Photo: Charlene Chung

      Charlene Chung answered on 11 Mar 2019:

      I ask my colleagues for help and advice.
      I take a step back and approach it from a different angle too.

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