I’m not sure if I have the temperament for this. I go from these extremes of “wtf is wrong with this?” to “wtf, that worked?” I just got my background for my technical documentation page to change, and I was kind of guessing at how to make it work, since I couldn’t remember. If I can ever get through the emotional rollercoaster, I might actually be able to do this.
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Yeah, I definitely get angry at code, get frustrated, feel dejected, elated, etc. There are definitely times when my wife hears me cuss so much from the other room that she rushes in thinking somehow I’ve been shot. I try to look at it as a chance for personal growth. And I remind myself that my passion is part of what makes me a good coder. But yeah, sometimes I need to keep it in perspective.
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I don’t know if this is particularly encouraging, but that’s a fairly common experience in programming.
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Being frustrated or angry is normal when what your doing doesn’t work. When it comes to doing complicated things, things don’t work often. The real question is how you handle your frustration.
If you get up and walk away for 4 hours because you can’t handle the problem, then yea this sorta work might not be for you.
If you sit there and “fight” the computer for 4 hours until you realize it was all just a typo and you feel very stupid then your probably on the right path. Just next time try to get some extra help, or eyes to help you find the typo instead of spending 4 hours on it. The goal being is to learn from your mistake, and move on to the next challenges.
Frustration is a form of passion, feeling frustration means you do care. Imagine the same situation of something not working, and you just walk away from it and never come back because you don’t care to see it through, because you lack the passion to keep going at it.
This doesn’t mean you must have a pure love and joy of “fighting the code”, it is work, but you should care enough about the problem to keep going at it, even if it sucks.
Finally, with anything challenging, there is a level of satisfaction with getting things working. Accomplishing anything difficult is its own reward, and learning complex stuff like programming, or development is no different.
Good luck, keep working, keep learning, keep struggling 
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Hi,
I so feel you. The utter despair, the heights of joy… it’s addictive. It does help me to take a distance at some point though it’s very hard to do when I really need it. I go to sleep with a problem that is often solved when I wake up. Balance is important. It can suck me up and that does NOT make me more productive. What makes me really productive is a balanced healthy lifestyle with time for other people and other activities.
I make a todo list of what I will do today (only!), I often use a timer, I write despairing posts to freeCodeCamp and I cry. Crying can be quite a relief and it’s not as destructive as throwing with objects. Try not to throw objects.
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