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I have a colleague who's double my age and sometimes asks questions related to development that I didn't know 6 years back.

But given his age and experience, am I doing right to tell him like what firebug, ST3 etc is? He is clever as in, he finds out what other person was saying and answers it with "I was about to say this".

Someone told me he can leave you behind and might get in good graces, because he is vocal and he'll use my knowledge to impress the boss.

I'm confused on how much should I help him and to what extent? When should I tell my manager about his requests for help, what he is lacking and affecting my work?

P.S - I am new at my work, so is he, but I've worked here longer.

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    Questions that I didn't knew 6 years back? What are you trying to say? English is probably not your native language, but can you edit your question to make it more understandable? For one thing, adding paragraph breaks helps readability.
    – user8036
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 8:08
  • @JoeStrazzere yes but in past I have seen dumb people over smart me after learning from me and creating problem.
    – user15704
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 12:32
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    If they learned from you then they weren't dumb.
    – gnasher729
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 20:11

2 Answers 2

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Hoarding knowledge never does you as much good as sharing it and letting your manager know you are doing so.

Among other things, if you are the only person who knows something important, you'll never be promoted beyond that job. And you'll have to work overnight or interrupt your holiday when problems arise. And....

Management wants to see you show leadership. Teaching is part of that.

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  • Really concise but great answer.
    – Alex
    Commented Jul 21, 2015 at 20:48
  • @kreshlam when you say "you'll never be promoted beyond this point", what you mean
    – user15704
    Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 7:53
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    @Nofel: He means that if you are irreplaceable in your position, because no one else has your level of knowledge, you will never be able to leave that position.
    – jwsc
    Commented Jul 22, 2015 at 12:16
  • But when you hire someone on your level, u expect them to work independently. Doesn't it? Instead of baby step with them?
    – user15704
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 10:12
  • They don't know your code, your development environment.... so some education is always required. Your responsibility is to help bring them up to speed.
    – keshlam
    Commented Jul 23, 2015 at 13:31
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am I doing right to tell him like what firebug, ST3 etc is?

Honestly, if your company only values you because you know what those are then you aren't very valuable. It's how you use the technologies that makes you matter, not what technologies you know about - this isn't something someone you teach can replicate, and if they do it exactly like you after not doing it like you well then there is your clear indication to your management that it came from you. Even with all of that experience in something is still more valuable and clear and easy to see - this is also something that cannot be faked, and since you are using the technologies still and since before he knew about them you will always be better at them.

Someone told me he can leave you behind and might get in good graces, because he is vocal and he'll use my knowledge to impress the boss.

I don't know who told you that but it sounds like that person thinks it's them against the world instead of with the world. He's part of the 'team', you should be helping each other out.

Just teaching someone something or telling them about something isn't going to make them 'better and more valuable' then you simply because they vocalize it to management. Any novice talking about anything they are a novice in is very easy to see. Honestly most management would be pushed away from this person if they talked a big game on things they just learned, and like I said, it's easy to tell if someone just learned something.

There is a lot of value in just teaching, it's a win win, this toxic 'me before he/she' attitude is what will cause you issues.

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