Ok guys ... real talk ... I've been stuck on a problem for over a month! The thing is that the problem and implementation is too specific for stack overflow. I've tried everything that I can think of and it's actually keeping me up at night! What do you guys do when you hit a brick wall?

Talk to your colleagues and first figure out what is it that you are trying to solve and if it is a problem at all. Then, do a lot of brainstorming to find various possible ways to approach the problem and don't try to see them as solutions yet. Then do another round of investigation to weigh the options you got and see what solution(s) fit your problem.

Most of the times the reasons why you are stumped at are 1. You are not thinking out loud, 2. You are not hearing others' ideas and/or opinions, and are stuck with something that may not be close to solving the problem at hand 3. You are trying to solve the wrong problem or trying to solve more than one problem simultaneously 4. Your brain is so stressed and feels like there is a need to deliver a solution ASAP

@asgs Thanks for the advice dude! I appreciate it :)

Tl;dr: Don't be afraid to ask for help.

Hard to tell if this is appropriate, but try to break the problem down into smaller chunks if you can. Solve the little pieces, suddenly the big piece is less daunting.

Or failing that, is there any way you can work on something else for a day or two? Sometimes we get so consumed by our particular understanding of an issue that we can't "see the wood for the trees", if you get my meaning.

Ask us

Yes, no question is a bad question. Unless someone in sales asks it.

What is the problem? Lots of people are here that would probably answer it. You have a wealth of knowledge at your disposal.

@TheSommer @CrankyOldDev @kunashe @randomcomma @ninjatini @DLMousey Thanks guys ... these sort of comments feel really reassuring ... but like I've said, the implementation is REALLY specific and it would take a long time to explain how it works ... I really appreciate the replies :)