Getting Help

Introduction

Every developer, no matter the experience level, gets stuck, almost every day. It’s very important to understand that it’s absolutely normal to spend hours, days, sometimes weeks, trying to solve one single problem. I’ve seen many programming students getting frustrated and quitting because they just don’t expect it to be this way. There’s no such thing as entering a flow state and having your project magically finished without hiccups. At least for most mortals.

Every project is a bumpy road. When studying, every little thing you try to do will require some level of troubleshooting. In a professional environment, there will be a constant back-and-forth between developers, “product owners”, “quality assurance” professionals and stakeholders to make sure the requirements are being met.

Thought Patterns

The sooner you understand that this is the nature of the work, the better. Your attitude towards these errors is the single most important factor that will determine your success. I know it can be disheartening sometimes. I’ve been stuck with errors for weeks. So what kept me going? I have two thought patterns that I trained myself to use in difficult programming situations:

1 – Quitting is not an option.
2 – “We have a drone on Mars”. If humans are able to control a drone on Mars, that means there is gotta be a solution for whatever programming problem I’m having.

Remember this: there is a solution. It will take many years of programming to run into problems that haven’t been solved before. So if you stick to it, no matter how long it takes, you will solve it. So let’s see how we solve problems in software development.

Double Check Your Code

When something doesn’t work in your code, the first step is to double check it. Read it carefully, word by word. There can be typos, missing words, unclosed brackets, misplaced code, a missing dependency, and the list goes on. Often you’ll be able to fix things just by reading again with more attention.

If you’re following a tutorial, check the instructor's code again. You might have missed something. In video tutorials, sometimes the teacher will slightly change the code and you’ll miss it because of editing. With time you’ll sharpen your attention to detail and make less of these mistakes, but always keep this tool up your sleeve.

Read The Error

It might seem obvious, but even experienced developers sometimes don’t read the errors the compiler provides. More often than not, the solution will be contained in the error message. You’ll be surprised with how much you can solve by just carefully reading its contents.

Look It Up

When stuck with a problem, it's good to spend a few minutes trying to troubleshoot it with the knowledge you currently have. This way you won't condition yourself to instantly rely on external sources. However time is precious and you don't want to be stuck for hours with every little problem.

The next step is to look your error up. Basically you have to ask google or your favourite AI tool. When you’re hired you’ll be talking to your AI assistant or searching for stuff on your favourite search engine dozens of times a day. I still remember my first day on my first job, when a senior dev was helping me with some Javascript code and he searched for something on Google. It was an eye-opener. He didn't have all of the knowledge in his mind but he knew how to look for it. Everyone does it. It doesn’t mean lack of knowledge, it just means humans aren’t robots that have everything accessible in a hard drive in their brains. Instead, the best developers simply know where to look.

For the first few years of your journey, rest assure that most of your questions have probably been asked before. If you run into a problem that doesn't have any previous answers, it's likely you didn’t ask the question correctly. The best way to do it is to copy and paste your error, verbatim. Except, of course, for the part that’s specific to your application.

Ask Someone

More likely than not, you’ve already solved your problem by now, but if even AI didn't do it, you might need to ask someone. It could be a friend that has experience in the stack you’re training, or someone in our Discord community, or myself. I ask questions almost every day at work, either to the senior devs, to the QA people, to my boss, or even junior devs that have more specific domain experience.

For asking questions directly, I recommend that first you verbalise it really well. Just by doing that you might come up with the solution (the rubber duck effect). Additionally, you save the person’s time because it will be easier for them to understand the context of your question. Also make sure you have really exhausted every possible avenue. In a professional environment, you’ll have problems if you ask questions that are easy to look up, so it’s better to incorporate good habits right now.

Have a Break

You have everything it takes. The grit, the will power, you never quit. Now sometimes that gets in the way of solving a problem. After hours trying to fix something, the best to do is probably to have a break. Going for a walk does wonders. Go to the gym, talk to someone, socialise, sleep. You'll be surprised how your brain will come up with solutions when given some space.

Remember, being stuck with a problem isn’t a waste of time. Your brain is piecing everything together. You’re getting familiar with the code. An unproductive day hitting a brickwall is a great opportunity for learning. You learned a thousand ways it doesn’t work. And then, all of the sudden, in the middle of a break, you might have that eureka moment. Or when you get back into it, you’ll have a fresh brain and renewed perspective. Trust me, it works!