Comment by roenxi

Unfortunately it is a bit more subtle than that though:

(1) Questions reveal a lot about someone's state of mind, particularly if there are a lot of them. If someone is actually struggling and doesn't maintain a vague silence, the people around them will figure it out even faster. Arguably not a bad thing, hiding things is a weak strategy.

(2) There is a certain type of middle manager who fears clarity, because clarity leads to accountability and at some level they have identified that as a threat to their careers. It is prudent to be very careful what sort of questions to ask that manager - "what does that abbreviation stand for?" is fine, "what is the exact problem here and what do you want the solution to look like?" or "I don't understand, can you get into the details of why you think that?" can be unexpectedly controversial.

So there is a superpower in having zero shame in asking questions, but the real trick of it is being able to identify the set of inoffensive, basic questions that will move a project along. There is a large class of technically-reasonable-politically-imprudent questions that an inexperienced engineer might ask to their detriment. I've never been afraid of asking questions but if the mindset behind the question isn't fairly polished then there can be backlash and a most people learn to avoid questions rather than getting good at being mentally flexible.