Is it normal to find yourself spending days sifting through documentation, often outdated, when learning new tools/frameworks as a developer? Sometimes finding myself doing this just to write 2 lines of code to interface something/configuration and I’m not sure if I’m better off just forcefully coding my own fix while knowing there’s a solution out there in the haystack.

I think outdated doc is a bit part of the job especially if you are in the js sphere. Being active on irc/github/spectrum and all other means of communication can be of great help because people can send you to the right part of the doc or give you the direction to take. Also the majority of devs are usually available even those who write the docs. Pull on a leg until tou get an answer.

Spent im rambling but i was thinking just the other day that being a dev is probably one of the best jobs for exactly that reason. The skill you acquire is that of learning how something works and reading the rules of the game. Then you apply them and try to get the best result and then keep on chipping your rough diamond to tend towards perfection. This process can be applied to pretty much everything else in life.

Read the rules - understand them.- apply them - improve the result.