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There is no magic
„Trying stuff until it works“ is the most destructive and useless programming technique that strengthens the notion of „magic“ in software development.
You didn’t understand the error message and just tried stuff until it went away. You basically didn’t gain any understanding of what the problem was, you didn’t evolve, didn’t improve your knowledge of the tools you’re working with.
Just take a step back and read the docs, or explore the source code. Yes, it can take you more time than just trying random stuff, or it can take you less, but that’s not the point. In any case, it’s a time better spent, because you’ll have learned something new. Randomly trying everything doesn’t improve your knowledge at all.
There’s no „magic“ in software. Just the same as in real life, there’s no magic in the surrounding nature. The difference is, it can take humanity ages to figure out how nature works, but it’ll only take you a couple of hours to read the docs and figure out how it works.
Get to know your tools, and don’t partake in magic rituals. Just use the docs, the source code, and your favorite question website. Make a note, tweet or write a blog post each time you learn something new. You’ll immediately feel you’ve improved.
