How to deal with frustrations as a web developer/software engineer

Last Friday, on a chilly evening while working on my new developer portfolio, I realized I had forgotten the password to the Strapi which I was using for my back end. I searched on the internet on how to reset your Strapi password but after reading their official documentation I realized deleting it and starting all over again was an easier thing to do because I hadn't populated it with so much data after all. So I deleted my Strapi application, and tried to install it all over again. It failed. I looked at the error log and realized the latest sqlite3 had refused to install using npm. After hours of trying I felt too tired and frustrated and shutdown my computer. Such an experience is common among developers and it's prudent to know how to handle frustrations lest you develop a burnout. I researched how seasoned developers do it and this is what I came up with.

  • Ask for help. Ask your teammates if working on a team, from friends, or on developer forums such as StackOverFlow. A smarter way to do it would be to tweet a link to the Stack Over flow problem too.
  • Go for a nature walk. A nature walk tends to clear and relax the mind and get you to refocus with renewed clararity and strength.
  • Read official docs. Most times that I overlooked the official documentation only to later find out I had been trying out an outdated implementation of a certain code and could have saved myself time if only I had read the official documentation.
  • Shutdown your computer and your brain. This is how I solved my mqlite3 installation problem. I shutdown my computer on that Friday evening and went to have fun. On Monday, I searched up the error online and to my delight someone had the same exact error and had asked it on a developer's forum. Someone else had the solution. Turns out there was a problem with the latest package of msqlite and all I had to do was install the second latest package. Sounds ridiculous but it worked. -If feeling overwhelmed, break down a task into smaller blocks, then focus on one smaller block at a time.
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