The Upside of Challenging Problems

We all face obstacles and challenges in our daily work.  However, the IT world is full of extra challenging problems.  These are the tasks that we struggle against for days or weeks instead of minutes or hours.  We can see a project go off the rails due to one of these obstacles, and they can challenge our sanity.  They are never fun to experience.  Nevertheless, some positives come from these "dark days."

What Does Not Kill Us Makes Us Stronger

The most significant positive to come from these challenging problems is the thrill of success.  When we get past these types of issues, it shows us we can what we thought was impossible.  Our career does not end with that difficult problem, and we gain more confidence in being able to handle anything thrown our way.  This situation is not different from success breeding success.  The more we overcome incredible odds or challenging problems, the more confidence we have the next time it occurs.

A New Approach

The challenging problems we face that hinder us are, by definition, outside of our comfort zone.  We develop patterns of problem-solving as we move through our careers.  That is why experienced developers tend to be more productive than the inexperienced.  They have established methods for solving a broad range of common problems.  Unfortunately, we can become set in our ways and be slow to try new approaches.  This mindset can make the new challenging problems harder to solve if we have not seen one recently.

When we are forced to solve a problem from scratch rather than applying a pattern, it enhances our problem-solving skills.  It is similar to the difference between knowing how to multiply numbers and doing so from memory.  Thus, the more we solve problems from scratch, the better we get at doing so with future obstacles.

Deeper Understanding Of The Challenging Problems

The time we spend on these extra difficult obstacles equates to us knowing them better.  We will often see how the problem is defined, and the solution works down to every detail.  This knowledge can open the door to many other solutions or even provide us with a new product or feature.

Episode Challenge: What did you learn from your last challenging problem?

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