If I look back, my relationship with asking questions has shaped almost everything I’ve become. From how I think, to how I grow, and even how I connect with people.
It All Started in School
In school, I was that shy kid who always hesitated to raise his hand. I had questions, lots of them, but I was scared to ask because I thought people might laugh or think I didn’t know enough. Things changed after my 10th grade when I joined coaching classes for competitive exams like AIEEE/IIT-JEE. That’s when I noticed something interesting, the students who asked questions always got more attention from teachers. Not because they were smarter, but because their curiosity made them visible. Teachers naturally focused more on them. That’s when I realized that asking questions isn’t about showing off, it’s about showing that you care to understand. From that day, I decided I’d start asking, even if my questions sounded silly.
College Years: From Shy to Curious (and Sometimes Annoying)
In college, my curiosity only grew. My friends would literally beg me, “Please don’t ask anything today, or the class will never end!”
But I couldn’t stop. Asking questions made lectures more interesting for me, it turned passive listening into active thinking. And gradually, it changed me. I became more confident, more outspoken, more willing to challenge ideas respectfully.
It even started showing in everyday life, if a shopkeeper raised a price, I asked why. If I saw a difference in quality, I questioned what made it so. It wasn’t just about bargaining anymore; it was about understanding value.
The Professional Leap: Curiosity as a Superpower
A decade into working in the software industry, I can confidently say this habit has been one of my biggest strengths.
When I started my career back in 2014, I spent the first few months just observing, learning how things moved, how people made decisions. But once I was comfortable, I began asking questions again: Why this process? Why such an aggressive deadline? Why this allocation?
Sometimes, I didn’t get the answers I hoped for. I remember asking why a critical release had an extremely tight deadline even though the team had enough bandwidth to space it out. The response was simply, “That’s how leadership decided.” It was a simple answer, but it taught me an important lesson: asking questions isn’t about getting the perfect answer; it’s about understanding perspectives and uncovering reasoning, even when the explanation isn’t fully satisfying.
Over time, my curiosity grew further. I started asking my managers and even CEOs questions about revenue trends, internal processes, what could be improved, and why certain decisions couldn’t be done differently. During one quarterly review, I asked why a specific feature was prioritized over another and what trade-offs were considered. The discussion revealed the challenges the product team faced with client demands, resource constraints, and long-term roadmap planning, insights that most of my peers never got to see.
On another occasion, I questioned the way a deployment process was structured. I noticed it had multiple redundant steps that delayed releases. By asking, “Why do we need to do this manual step when it could be automated?” I sparked a discussion that eventually led to automating part of the pipeline. It saved the team hours of repetitive work every week.
What I realized is that asking questions makes you visible. People begin to see you not just as someone who executes tasks, but as someone who thinks critically and engages deeply with the work. Because of this, I’ve been invited into important conversations, product strategy sessions, architecture discussions, and even high-level client calls where I might not have been included before. Simply because I asked.
The Power of Open Conversations
I especially value organizations that embrace open communication where leaders welcome questions.
In my current organization, we have a bi-weekly sync-up with our CEO where anyone can ask anything openly. It builds transparency, trust, and clarity across all levels. When questions flow freely, ideas and accountability do too.
Curiosity Beyond Work
This habit has now stretched far beyond the work.
I find myself curious about every profession, what is the checklist that pilot fills out in the cockpit before takeoff, what bankers are typing into their systems, how a chef structures their day in a busy hotel kitchen, or what politicians actually discuss behind closed doors.
Of course, these thoughts aren’t always productive I remind myself to focus back on writing code but they reflect how deep curiosity can run once you start embracing questions.
And yes, not everyone appreciates it.
When I take my car for servicing and ask for a detailed breakdown, the mechanic often says, “Sir, koi nahi puchta itna.” (No one asks this much) I usually smile and reply, “That’s exactly the problem, nobody asks.”
note : Of course, asking questions doesn’t mean doing it blindly. The best questions come from curiosity backed by understanding. When you’ve done your homework, your questions become sharper and the discussions become richer.
Why This Matters in the Age of AI
Now, in the Age of AI, asking questions has become more important than ever.
AI can give us answers instantly, but the quality of those answers depends entirely on the quality of our questions. Whether it’s prompting ChatGPT, debugging a system, or building a product roadmap better questions lead to better insights.
In fact, in many cases, the person who asks the right question brings more value than the one who finds the right answer.
Good questions challenge assumptions. Great ones open new possibilities.