!rant

I'm thinking of turning my hobby into a career in the future. So I'm wondering, is it standard practice to use StackOverflow and web forums alike when doing software development in a professional setting? Is it generally looked down upon? I'm asking because I find myself using it every now and again, sometimes for silly things.

Thanks!

Are you really asking whether it is okay to occasionally visit the corner pub?

I'd say it's not necessarily looked down upon unless your whole coding experience is to copy/paste code from random people, or if looking around in SO is always your first impulse and you don't even make the effort to learn from responses and code you found out there.

It’s not OK and it can get you fired

@Red-Knot Oh, come on - you are joking, right?
@Borys64 It's absolutely okay. Stack Overflow has some fairly serious issues, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with using a working solution you find there. There's a huge amount wrong with not managing to complete tasks/projects because you didn't make use of help that is available, for free, to you and everyone else. That can get you fired.

Asking chatGPT is much more lazy and dangerous, but beware of improper advice and outdated code on StackOverflow as well. Likewise, copilot, tabnine, and other code assistants can come up with unhelpful suggestions. There are very good blogs, tutorials, and forums / communities for specific technologies or products as well. Like @ethernetzero and @UnicornPoo said, it's okay to use whatever source of knownledge and inspiration as long as you don't stop using your brain.

@spongegeoff I’m dead serious 🙄

Its okay to use it, but not ok to abuse it(examples would be if you just copy/pasting the code and not understanding the code that you just used from there).

No. If you understand the code, it's just a plus that you can work that way. Bonus points if you contribute to SO yourself.