Combatting Coder’s Block
Since my graduation from Flatiron School, I’ve been spending a lot of my spare time working through different technologies that come up while I work on projects. While working through learning these, I inevitably run into blocks, much like any other programmer. When I’m stuck, I work through using the same process each time, and it has yet to fail me up to now.
1: Start with the Documentation
This is especially important if you’re working in a library or framework that’s new to you, start with the documentation. As I expand my knowledge deeper into ReactJS, I find myself in the documentation quite a bit. Whether its a matter of not understanding specifically the implementation or function of some aspect of it, starting with the actual documentation is similar to fixing your car by starting with the owner’s manual.
2: Google Search
This is where the majority of my solution come from. At this stage in my career, it’s a safe bet that if I’m having a problem, someone else would have had a similar problem. Resources like Stack Overflow and the like are full of posts and discussions based around coding problems.
3: Check with Colleagues
This was the one that we went most with during my time at Flatiron, and still do after graduation. My cohort continues to stay in touch through a Discord channel, and one of the rooms available is dedicated to asking questions of each other that we may be stuck on. Checking with those in your circle, whatever that means for you, is a solid step after the first and second have been exhausted. It may also open the door to what failed in the first two steps.
4: Go Wide
Whether this means going up the ladder in a professional setting (a more senior programmer or outside your team), checking with an alumni group (Flatiron keeps an active Slack with one of the channels dedicated to this), or posting your own problem on Stack Overflow, putting the problem into the world so many more eyes can see it is a good way to get a solution you may not have approached before. It is rare that I get to this level, and it usually is the step that would take the longest to resolve, but a solution does come.
