I have a friend who talks about programming making you feel alternately like a genius and an idiot, and every developer I’ve mentioned this to since laughs and agrees. Years ago he sent me this picture to illustrate his point: We've all been here. Over and over. I think about this a lot when I’m wrestling with a problem, whether it’s a new concept, bug in my code, or whatever. It’s actually a salve to my wounds, because it reminds me that whatever issues I’m having today will probably be gone tomorrow - or even maybe in the next hour.