Being stuck is an uncomfortable feeling when developing. Over time, I've realized there's something beautiful about being stuck. It signifies the precipice of knowledge. The aim of this talk is to give early in career developers tools and support to get unstuck.

1. Jonathan Yeong | @jonoyeong
The Beauty of Being Stuck

2. I found myself lost in the
woods…

3. 😩

4. I was stuck

5. STOPPING ANY
FORWARD
PROGRESS
BUG OR
TECHNICAL
PROBLEM

6. Being Stuck Feels Crummy!

7. Getting stuck happens to
everyone!

8. Let’s think about getting
stuck differently

9. Beauty in being stuck
🙌 🙌 🙌

10. Why is it good to be stuck?

11. Being stuck is an indicator of
progress

12. @estefanniegg
Let’s say you never get stuck

13. You’re doing what you’re
good at over and over again

14. This presents problems if you
want to improve

15. OK Plateau

16. Unfortunately, past me deleted all
those projects

17. I would run away and start a new project

18. Practicing what I was good at
and nothing more

19. Embraced getting stuck

20. We don’t improve by
practicing what we’re good at

21. Find the edge of our
knowledge.

22. Take a leap to see
what’s on the other
side.

23. “When you want to get good at something,
how you spend your time practicing is far
more important than the amount of time you
spend…” - Josh Foer

24. “Regular practice simply isn’t enough. To
improve, we must watch ourselves fail, and
learn from our mistakes”
- Josh Foer

25. Being stuck is a Desirable
Difficulty…

26. That’s what getting stuck is
all about!
🌈 🌈 🌈

27. LEARN FROM
YOUR MISTAKES
AND TRY AGAIN

28. IT’S ABOUT
HAVING THE
RIGHT MINDSET

29. Focus instead on how to get unstuck

30. Detangling Knots
Lost in the Woods
Stuck for Realsies

31. Detangling Knots

32. Photo by Bruce Reyes-Chow from Pexels

33. Stuck on a tough bug or sifting
through documentation
Detangling knots

34. We know what the question
should be. But the path to get the
answer is obscure
Detangling knots

35. Find the right piece of
information as efficiently as
possible
Detangling knots

36. Detangling knots
Error might be here
on this line!
Line numbers track the calls to the
problem variable; work backwards!
Sometimes you get hints
Look for the
speci
fi
c error message
*Ruby on Rails example

37. Photo by Timothy Dykes on Unsplash
Rubber Ducking

38. When you’re forced to explain
everything step by step, you might
realise something or find a gap in
your understanding
Detangling knots

39. Gaps in your knowledge lead you
to a question to help get you
unstuck
Detangling knots

40. Know when to skim vs read
Detangling knots

41. Skim using cmd+f or ctrl+f
Save those 👀
Detangling knots

42. Spend time reading an area that
relates to your feature
Detangling knots

43. Finding the balance between
skimming vs reading is the hard
part
Detangling knots

44. Lost in the Woods

45. We don’t know the answer. But
we also don’t know the question.
Lost in the Woods

46. We might be missing concepts!
Lost in the Woods

47. Sit down and Learn!
Lost in the Woods

48. Learning is hard. But there are a
lot of resources that can help.
Lost in the Woods

49. Encoding, retrieval, consolidation
helps you understand what you
read or watched
Lost in the Woods

50. Learning a new mental model
and levelling up as a developer!
Lost in the Woods

51. Stuck for Realsies!

52. Stuck on something out of your
control
Stuck for Realsies

53. If you’re still stuck…

54. Take
Take a
Take a Break!

56. Ask
Ask for
Ask for help!

57. SET YOURSELF A
TIME LIMIT

58. Struggling… primes your
brain to learn and retain the
incoming information

59. You’ll have a more focused
question

60. You’ll get more out of someone
teaching you a concept

61. Stuck 😡😫😤
!=
==
Stuck == 🤩🕵📈

62. Figure out the type of stuck

63. Get Unstuck

65. ⭐ Thank you for listening! ⭐

66. Links and Resources

67. • Brain Pickings - The Psychology of Getting Unstuck: How to Overcome the “Ok Plateau” of
Performance & Personal Growth
• Joshua Foer quote slide 23-24 - Moonwalking with Einstein, Joshua Foer, pg 171
• Joshura Foer: Step outside your comfort zone and study yourself failing
• Carol Dweck - The Power of believing that you can improve
• Desirable Dif
fi
culty - Make it Stick, Brown et al. pg 68-69
• Four Kinds of Stuck - Jeff Wofford, 2011
• Illustrations from Pixeltrue Packs - Minimalistic Illustrations
• UNC Learning Center - Tools and Tips on Skimming
Links and Resources