Tips for solving coding problems 👨🏾‍💻

When you’ve been going over code and debugging for hours; and all you got was older.. 👨🏾‍💻👴🏾😩
Here are some of my tips for solving coding problems:

Break it down ➗

— break down the problem/project into smaller, more manageable pieces
— solve one problem at a time instead of being overwhelmed
— consider the architecture; should this problem be solved by separate components or micro-services?

Solve the problem manually 💪🏾

— If possible, complete the work manually and document in detail what needs to be done
— Be sure to completely understand logically what the software needs to do
— Determine the code/implementation needed to automate the manual solution

Explain it to someone else 👨🏾‍💻

— Often simply explaining a coding problem to others helps us solve it
— The process of describing a problem can open a deep/unexplored level of thought on it
— The other person could very well provide the solution

Draw it out / write pseudocode ✍🏾

— Visualize the problem with pseudocode or a diagram
— Often drawing out the problem can spark epiphanies
— Pseudocode helps you organize the high-level approach in your mind before going to code

Don’t reinvent the wheel ♻️

— Many coding problems have been solved before
— Be sure to make sure that you are solving a new problem and not reinventing things
— Explore internal and third-party services/libraries to help you solve the problem

Just walk away 🚶🏾‍♂️

— Walk away from the computer for a while to take a mental break
— Taking a step away can sometimes give you the answer
— Sleep on it

⁉️ What are your tips? Leave a comment with them.