Keep pushing through

Dear new developer,

One time I was working with an application framework that had poor documentation. I was trying to figure out how to use it to support a client’s project. But it wasn’t working.

I was less experienced and so had no idea why we’d chosen this application framework. I was simply tasked with making this particular feature work. Frankly, I don’t even remember what the feature was!

But I had to make it work. No one could help me (it was new to everyone). There was little documentation, I don’t recall if I filed a support ticket with the vendor, but I certainly should have. I searched the internet intensely. I ended up downloading a java decompiler to learn what I could about the framework and the class in question.

I finally solved the problem by decompiling a few classes. I found a bug in the application framework that I was able to work around. I did my job, even though I had to approach the problem from a non traditional angle.

Note what I didn’t do: I didn’t give up.

Sometimes you just have to keep pushing. Software development is hard.

By definition, the easy stuff is easy to do and therefore gets done relatively quickly. So you’ll send a lot of time on difficult things. Prepare for this and plan to work through it.

Tips for working through hard things:

• Take breaks
• Talk to others, whether in person or online
• Keep thinking of different approaches
• Remember the end goal

There are going to get hard. In technology there are ways to work smart and hard. Make sure you do both.

Sincerely,

Dan