What NOT to Ask Your Hero

What tips does Adam Savage have for mentees? Who does Adam love to listen to? Does Adam work in his home kitchen like he does in the cave, and does he and Mrs. Donttrythis bake at all? In this live stream excerpt Adam answers these questions from Tested members @claytations, @crispychrissy, @Chef Tiny and @Robert Standen, whom we thank for their support.

Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam a question during live streams:

Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman

Thanks for watching!

[tested]

Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam a question during live streams:

[A_Nne]

The best advice I've ever received in life (especially when it comes to asking for advice from a mentor or boss) is; If you have a problem, before asking the question have a solution (or educated guess) to propose with it, even if you pretty sure it's wrong. It'll shows you've put some thought into your problem and you're not just wasting the other persons time or trying to off load the problem onto them.

[jerbear]

I apologize if this sounds disrespectful to your other accomplishments but these are imo the most valuable things you do. You are an excellent conduit of life lessons. Listening to you it is no surprise that you have acheived what you have. I especially appreciate your work advice for new people. Anyhow, keep at it. I'll watch.

[gopherman]

"That's a question that is so broad it's unanswerable." That's such a great way to phrase it! I teach college film history courses and often struggle with this kind of thing with my students. (To the point where I've put the phrase "'I'm confused' is not a question" in at least one syllabus.) I always want to help students who come to me with questions but a lot of the time I have to tell them basically the same thing - tell me exactly what it is you want to know more about. Only then can I help you.

[Zerbey]

I love how accommodating you are for your fans and will always give a well rounded answer, even if some of the questions must get very repetitive at times. I once cold called a somewhat famous software engineer for advice, and expected he would just tell me to get lost. Instead I had an hour long conversation and he cheerfully answered every question I had.

[seeingthepattern]

Alie Ward is outstanding when it comes to getting the best out of her guests. She always asks the questions that get the information listeners need to understand a subject they didn't even know existed when the podcast started.

[Jaqinta]

Hello Mr. Adam, i just would like to simply say that , Thank you sir for giving me wonderfull childhood memories . You always be a special place in my heart sir . I hope you to have healthy life and to your loved ones .

[filmdesigner]

Having been in the industry 35 years ive learned that engaging with people starting out not only builds future professionals but also allows me to pay forward the mentoring i got from so many when i started. Im always happy to share knowledge because so much of what i learned at the beginning was knowledge from others that i then built on . This is how we pass on the craft to the next generation thus enduring the test of time. So
much knowledge has been lost by those who refused to pass on what they learned.

[thehuggz-ik]

"Listening to people talk about things they're passionate about is one of my favorite things" is why I even follow this channel. Everyone who presents anything is a consummate nerd in their respective field. Everyone seems to love what they do and it comes through.

[JonEnge]

One of the things I learned as a mentee (as a writer), when I have a question for my mentor, I open an email and write the question out, if I've answered my own question by the time I get to the end, I probably don't need to bug them. But sometimes it's good to get their perspective.
In writing, this is a version of "try it first." Great advice! Thanks, Adam!

[thanksfernuthin]

(On cleaning as you cook...) When I and my three siblings were young, on Sundays, my Dad would go to church early and my Mom would take us kids to church at the next mass. While we were in church my Dad would cook breakfast for the whole family and there wouldn't be a single dirty dish or utensil in the kitchen when he was done. It was like a magic trick. A loving magic trick. That went on for years. How priceless is that memory?!

[jeromethiel]

Sabine Hossenfelder (SIC) is one of the sciencey people i actually like to listen to. She is the first person EVER to actually make sense when talking greenhouse gas and why too much CO2 is bad. She was clear and concise, and didn't talk down or dumb it down. She just presented the facts, and why some CO2 in the atmosphere is essential, and why too much is bad.

[makingtolearn]

I used to run an animatronics forum and would get questions like "What is a good servo?" -which is unanswerable without knowing application specifics. I had to shut the forum down because it basically turned into me staying up all night trying to help people with their projects, to the point where I was essentially doing a large percentage of the work for them.

[nicholasespinosa]

My mind immediately went to Ollogies and I'm so happy you gave Allie Ward a shoutout. Watching you nerd out as you dive into projects on your channel gives me the same kind of satisfaction.

[RavenWolffe]

I just gotta say, Adam, you've been a driving force behind my love for science and its practical applications for pretty much my entire life.

I grew up watching Mythbusters, your advice and life experiences have been incredibly helpful, and your videos have been instrumental in my fledgling expeditions into prop making.

You're a man I respect beyond words, I really don't know how to express it better.

[lamiaceae]

Nice to hear a shoutout to The -Ologies Podcast! I've been enjoying that podcast for years; wonderfully done and always fascinating!

[Merennulli]

When you have someone who might be willing to answer your questions, putting in effort is the most important part. Your question needs to show that you tried to figure it out on your own first and hit a VERY SPECIFIC dead end. My favorite questions are the ones that quote or reference specific sections of something I wrote and ask meaningful questions about it that show the person tried to understand it on their own.

[CrucibleMediaLabs]

The "not even wrong" question bit is SO real. It's such a plague on Reddit that I can't even browse the photography or video-related subs anymore to answer questions or contribute to discussion without getting worked up and frustrated. I LOVE getting asked about gear and technique and everything else when I'm working-just today I spent a good 10 minutes talking to a customer about what camera I use and why I love it so much and where they might want to go in their own equipment-buying journey to accomplish a specific thing. Hell, I've written entire articles on the minutiae of tracking and panning photography. But when someone asks something like "What is a good camera to buy?" or "How do I edit photos?" I'm just left shouting at the screen because it really shows that the person has so little to go on that, as you say, their question isn't "even" wrong, and even if it was answered in some fashion, they would have no frame of reference with which to interpret and apply that answer. Not only that, but they couldn't even be bothered to google "best camera for [insert activity]" or "photo editing tutorial" to get a sense of the absolute basic, foundational facets of the topic, and it really comes off as lazy more than anything else.

[iout]

I cannot begin to describe how helpful it is to be specific with questions.
I help out on a math forums from time to time and I once got asked “tell me everything about trigonometry.” I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I don’t know how to turn that into a motivated lesson.

In a similar vein, one of my pet peeves when seeking assistance is asking to ask. Just saying “Are there any experts on X?” or “I have a question” without elaborating on what problem actually needs solving. If you’ve got a question, please, make sure to actually ask the question.

[nickrivera]

Absolute +1 for the Ologies podcast. I used to commute from LA county to San Diego 4 days a week on average and Dad-Ward definitely helped make the time fly by. As someone who doesn’t give out unsolicited recommendations, Ologies is the exception.