Have you run into an error?

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Have you run into an error?

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2 min read

So this is my second article about errors, actually I ran out of ideas but my sister, Halimah and friend, Uti, gave some suggestions which I merged into this piece.

As a developer, especially if you are still on your learning path, the chances of running into an error are quite high. I have heard people (me) tell others to try to stay calm so you can figure out the error, but that is hardly ever put into practice (even I don't), because you're probably rethinking why you chose tech in the first place, or that you may never be good enough. Well, your feelings are pretty valid and normal, but you still have to fix the error, because you can't let one measly error destroy your self-confidence.

The first step I take, is like my advice, go back to basics, try to check what went wrong. I'm a frontend developer, when I have a CSS error, I mostly use a ridiculously bright color as the border or as the background-color. In JS, the good old console.log() If the error gets bigger than my knowledge, I resort to, you know where I'm going Stack Overflow.
It is important to remember that, someone out there has probably run into this error or something similar, that person put up this error online, then a thoughtful and insightful individual gave a solution, which probably helps with your error. So, don't be shy to open your browser and type in your error and get the solution that will help to reinstate your genius status.

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While you're learning, copying and pasting code is not necessarily bad, what is bad is not understanding what you pasted, because if you run into the same error again, it'll just be a crazy copy and paste loop, which wont make you - as they say - "World Class". It is perfectly normal not to understand your error on the first few tries, what really matters is not giving up.

Another solution, that really works is having friends you can turn to for help (this has proven really helpful, many times) or belonging to community of "techies" e.g. either on Twitter, or the GDSC chapter in your school, etc. where you can easily ask for help from people with similar interests or people that have more knowledge than you do.

Finally, I strongly believe that running into errors shape our journeys and they are a learning experience. So, don't be afraid of errors, embrace them.

P.S. - I sounded very motivational in my last sentence. ๐Ÿ˜

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