Frequently I notice people working at Microsoft, Google, IBM, Red Hat, Cisco and Nvidia constantly asking trivial questions on Freenode IRC. How is it possible they got hired in the first place?
Can you provide some examples? Sometimes people are employed for a given skill, and the best way they can then expand those skills is to ask questions.
It's usually basic stuff you can find in the documentation of whatever project. I know open-source software documentation isn't always the greatest or easiest to understand, it just shocks me!