Taking a step back

Whenever you are working on a task, it is pretty common to come across some errors and problems that might slow down your progress, especially if it is something new you have never done before. Some of those issues may seem very hard to fix for you but to learn and improve, you need to try to solve them efficiently.

Last month, I was assigned a task to upgrade the Rails version for the application I was working on. At first, it seemed like a very straightforward task, but as I moved forward with it, things started complicating a little bit for me. I felt a lot of pressure because I felt I was taking way too long with this task, and I didn’t really understand the issue.

I realized I was not going anywhere after spending some time trying to solve it, which was not productive. I asked someone else, and he reminded me that I’m still an apprentice. I can’t expect something as complicated as an upgrade to be solved, particularly on a very old project, as quickly or as easily as someone with more experience would, which helped me calm down. Then he advised me to step back a bit and go over the fundamentals of what I had at hand and focus on understanding what I was doing.

So I agreed to do that. I took a step back, relaxed, and read the documentation in-depth to better what I was working with. Then I continued trying to solve it again, but this way, I would be more prepared to ask for that help from someone with more experience.

The moral of the story is that as you begin your career, and I’m sure it applies to when you have years of experience too, you will come across difficult tasks that involve solving hard problems. Still, it is important not to get too overwhelmed or stressed, go to the root of the problem, focus on really understanding what is going on, and read the documentation with care. That will allow you solve the issue easier and be more specific when you ask for help.