Relating to Solving Problems Remotely

Solving Problems as a Remote Worker

I've been following Scott Hanselman's blog for a few years now. He writes some interesting and insightful posts, and is a more naturally gifted developer than I'll ever be. I feel I have enough in common with him to relate, and use everything else as inspiration to better myself. Anyway, enough of that.

He wrote a post today about the trials and tribulations of getting started with 3D printing. In particular, I related to a comment he made about how to find solutions to problems. It reminded me so much of how I feel when I have to handle issues when working remotely.

I decided to paraphrase this part of his post here. Keep in mind that I have altered this a bit, but the core thoughts are his. He is also a remote worker, so I have to think that his thoughts are rooted from that perspective. This is why I think I relate so well.

When you work on your own, you inevitably have to search for solutions on you own too. However, when you search for your problem there are one of two things that will happen:

• You find someone like you with the same problem and they SOLVED IT AND THEY HAVE THE SOLUTION THERE FOR YOU TO USE!

or

• You find someone like you with the same problem and they NEVER FOUND THE ANSWER AND THIS QUESTION WAS ASKED IN 2009 AND YOU WILL ALWAYS BE ALONE.

The part "AND YOU WILL ALWAYS BE ALONE" just makes me smile, because that's how it feels when you are stuck on a problem and there is no one around to help you get back on track.

Coincidentally my usual MO is to:

1. Iterate through the problem in more and more detail with the hope that I'll bring something to the surface
2. Get really frustrated, give up and sleep on it
3. The next morning*, look at the problem again, find solution right away

(* sometimes it's more than one morning)

In case you missed the link I provided above, here is a link to the original post:
http://www.hanselman.com/blog/TheBasicsOf3DPrintingIn2014FromSomeoneWith16WHOLEHOURSExperience.aspx