How to overcome coding blockers.
We all face personal struggles at some point in our coding journey. This is what makes us human. These struggles manifest themselves in different ways. It could be that you are having a hard time understanding a particular concept, or a bug in your code block, or that you are demotivated 😭, too many meetings, multitasking or switching tasks, unfamiliar tools, or technology, and, many others. This is expected!. For various reasons, we are unable to function at 100% productivity and capability all of the time. We are only human after all and not robots.
However, it is expected that we find ways to overcome our struggles. This starts with accepting how you feel and finding ways to overcome it. In this article, I will be sharing with you some insights that will help you overcome code blockers that are related to bugs or errors 🐛.
What are Code Blockers?
A Blocker is identified as any obstruction that has stopped progress on a particular task but hasn’t necessarily slowed down overall progress.
Blockers are also known as impediments in Scrum, and issues in a more traditional project management approach.
As a programmer, sometimes when you write codes, you sit in front of your computer staring at your editor with those bugs staring back at you. At that point, you keep imagining what you must have done wrongly.
So what could you do?
Now you are stuck, this isn’t the result you expected. Worse still, you have no clue of what to do next. Welcome to the club!
- Identify what’s blocking you.
The first step in getting yourself unblocked is to find out what actually is the problem; Are there some error messages? What type of error messages are they? Are they syntax errors or logical errors? Ask yourself questions to understand what’s wrong. Try searching for the meaning of those error messages. Understanding what’s blocking you will help you in finding the needed solution.
In finding out the cause of the problem, try using different debugging tools 🛠️ such as browser inspect, console log, dev tools, and other extensions. Professionals use a bug tracking system to find what needs to be fixed.
Comment out sessions of the code suspected to be giving issues or set breakpoints and check out your output.
- Don’t spend all day on what is blocking you.
Do not spend so much time trying to unblock yourself; This may impact your deadline.
Unblocking is mostly dealing with the unknown. Normally, we don’t like thriving with a large chunk of uncertainty. We prefer to make the uncertain certain and move on to other things. Spending more hours unblocking than coding the actual problem leaves us with a feeling of wearings.
- Reach out for unblocking.
If you have tried all you could and you are still stuck, the good news is that you are probably not the first person to have encountered that specific problem, and we have the internet to help us share our knowledge, difficulties we faced, and possible solutions. I guess it’s time to reach out to a best friend (Google) or a community. So, the knowledge is out there, and the best skill you can develop is making sure you are not afraid to use it. However, It’s important to understand what you are trying to achieve and the problem you have, which will help to structure your question well when reaching out to your best friend (Google) 👩🏻🤝👨🏼 or a community.
Using Google to find answers and solutions to your problems is one skill every developer should develop. Coding requires constant learning. Looking for solutions, asking questions, and discussing different options will be a part of your daily life as a developer. You encounter blockers as you continue to learn. When this happens, your goal should be to get a direct and clear solution as soon as possible. To achieve this goal, be concise in your question. Keep it simple. Don’t submit a query in the form of a short story, use keywords. Let your question be as plain as possible.
- Don’t keep too many blocking tasks.
It’s important to focus on unblocking the coding task as opposed to starting more tasks.
Two are better than one and the shared problem is half solved. It’s better to reach out to your best friend (Google) or other developers as soon as possible so you can obtain the solution you desire and move on to the next task. Don’t fight your fight alone and don’t ignore the fight either.
When you keep too many blocking tasks, it can be overwhelming and may affect your overall productivity. Discouragement can set in and may lead to you terminating the project. I’m sure the goal is to complete the project.
- Keep a record of the solution that unblock the coding task.
Once you’ve unblocked the coding task, keep a record of the blocker. If you are working in a team, this can be very useful at the next retrospective in understanding common causes of blockages 😮💨
Another reason will be to mentor someone who might have the same issue in the future. Since coding involves giving back to the community and networking with other developers, your experience will be useful to the next person who may encounter such a problem.
Also, keeping records will help you in analyzing your progress. If you find that most of your errors come from a misunderstanding of the problem statement, or if you keep finding you’ve chosen the wrong algorithm or path to follow in solving your problems, this may suggest that you have to improve in your code design. By keeping a record of blockers you will discover your strengths and weakness.
Conclusion
Blockers can make life miserable for developers, however, we grow by overcoming blockers. If we don’t learn from what’s blocking us and try to fix them then we’ll be hindering our own growth. Always resist the urge to code alone. We could save precious time when we reach out to others in an attempt to unblock ourselves. Next time when you encounter blockers, understand what’s blocking you, try out every solution you may be aware of, if still stuck, ask your best friend 👩🏻🤝👨🏼 in a concise manner, if everything goes well, don’t forget to document your solution.
Happy coding! 🥳🥳🥳
Happy unblocking! 😇😇😇
