I hate it greatly when people won't say "I don't know", but instead hem and haw and avoid the question or give obtuse answers. Once someone admits they don't know, it's fine, you can work to solve the problem another way. But for that to work with most people, I think you have to be pretty nice and make it clear you are not the sort of person that is going to cause problems if they are honest about ignorance.
There could be because they got punished or saw someone get punished for saying "I don't know". Or, they either got rewarded or saw someone get rewarded for fudging and lying their way through when the real answer was "I don't know".
It is also about trust. When there is trust between the employees, one is not afraid of being honest and saying "I don't know" followed by "but I will find out" or "ask Jack, he knows more about this".
If there is a feeling that punishment or implied accusations of incompetence or experience will be made, they will start making shit up on the spot.
I see this everyday. It is really sad, hours of productivity is lost because people can't be honest. Usually it goes like this. A new employee, call him N, doesn't know how something works. They don't even know who is responsible for that product area. They go to a random employee X to ask for help, so they ask "how does this work?". Employee X knows they themselves don't know, but they won't admit it and won't send employee N to the employee Y, who really knows about the stuff.
Instead employee X starts to make stuff up on the spot, or which is slightly better, they both spend hours learning about the answer by reading code (not too bad again), but all they could have done is asked employee Y about it and they would have gotten an answer in under a minute.
That should be easy to fix, all you have to do is to ask them who knows the most about the question you have - then they can help you without being dishonest or losing face.
I do this as a job interviewer sometimes - keep asking questions until the candidate says they don't know. The ones that behave as you state in the first sentence become no-hires.
I think admitting you don't know isn't as hard as dealing with constantly admitting you don't know.
I often feel like a broken record when my boss comes to me and I have to answer that way. He doesn't seem to mind, but it eats away at my very soul... not to be overly dramatic, but it does cause more stress than it should.
In a discussion with my first post degree employers it came up that one of the reasons I got the was the fact that during the interview I was quite open about things I was not sure of, and asked the right questions to help guide me to the answer.
You should never feel a question is stupid, or feel stupid for asking one. If someone makes you feel that way, and you can, find a new situation!
I remember in the first pg essay I read he mentioned to work with the kind of people who are ready to say "I don't know" because of the confidence it shows in what they do know. It's stuck with me.
Interesting, this was the first type of question I was asked at an interview, something like, "From our website, how do you think we plan to do x?". Obviously, there was nothing related to x on their site.
It's a great way to separate people who'll make up something vs people who are good at admitting what they don't know and are willing to look for the answer.
I recently interviewed for a position where I had to say I don't know, but I'll figure it out. Its was a weird situation because I knew the answer, but nerves wrecked my mind, and could not think straight.
Did not get the job. Even made a thread about it in Ask::HN.
But not knowing something is a great motivator for me. Something that I think employers should value.
Of the 100 or so interviews I have done over the past year and a bit, only two or three have had cases where the interviewee did not need to admit they did not know. If my goal is to understand the breadth and depth of knowledge, then one can only really have a clue about that when one starts hitting the edges.
The grace/confidence in admitting they don't know, the willingness to guess and explain how they came up to it (and continuing/iterating as I give more information), and how well someone integrates something new (ie, something I have just told them) later in the interview are all major considerations in my interview feedback and hire/no-hire decision.
I've found that people actually tend to perceive me as knowing more the more honest I am about what I do and don't know. I'm sure some people aren't that way, but I've found it to be true the vast majority of the time for me. I would consider fudging the truth the riskier option unless you're some kind of silver-tongued devil.
In any sane workplace, pretending like you know the answer to something you really don't will harm you far more than simply admitting you don't know, especially on the first day when you can't really be expected to know things.
The money shot is towards the end: "I don't know... but I will find out." I think that shows initiative and a willingness to learn and work as part of a team, which in many environments is just as important as being an expert.
I recently started a new network admin job at a school. I knew I had the skills to do the job but I knew I would be asking lots of stupid questions.
I learnt the environment fast and only sounded like an idiot a few times.
Why would you think you should know how a business works because you have the skills for the job? That's weird.
