Problem-solving is valued highly in our economy and is something evaluated in schools, universities, and the workplace. Employers hope that every recruit brings a fresh perspective to old ‘problems’, or challenges, that their business faces.
Here we explore why problem-solving is so important, what you can do to best demonstrate your abilities, and how you can go about improving your skills.
If you are a C.S student you already doing problem-solving by learning algorithms and data structures but as soon you start learning new technologies to specialize in a field that doesn’t require them too much we stop training that muscle and that is what irritates me as a web developer.
As I’m diving deeper into web frameworks and doing more projects I felt my brain getting slower and the sparks that I felt inside my head once are gone forever.
Why is problem-solving so important?
Employers rate problem-solving skills so highly because the core ingredients are relevant to virtually any job role.
No manager wants to hire someone who can’t think for themselves and comes running every time something goes wrong. Workplace challenges always require resolution and employers are on the lookout for candidates who can come up with, and execute effective solutions.
No matter the sector, industry, or job function, challenges and problems that you need to solve will occur regularly, and will often be the measure of your success in the role.
Problem-solving requires a combination of both analytical and creative thinking. Employers will want to see that you can use both of these to take the initiative and create positive results.
How to improve your problem-solving skills?
For a start, try to be more aware of what problem-solving entails, and when you’re doing it.
- Re-phrasing: When a problem or challenge is proving difficult, re-phrasing can be a good way to open things up. Re-phrasing the question helps you to focus on generating solutions rather than feeling blocked by the obstacle in your way.
- Chunking: Breaking the problem down into different stages usually helps you to focus on the essentials, and stops you from being overwhelmed by too much information.
- Drawing: I know it could be ridiculous for some people but drawing the problem might solve it quicker than you think. You made the problem on paper, it’s up there in reality and no longer kept inside your imagination and everything will be clearer than any time before.
- Be open-minded:
“If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail.” - old saying
The way you have done things in the past may not always work for all situations. A hammer may be good for prying nails out of wood and plunging them into the wood, but you should not use a hammer to pick up leaves or to unscrew a rusty bolt.
Where you can practice problem-solving? The best way I’ve found is leet code, with hundreds of creative problems designed in 3 different levels (easy, medium, and hard). It will help quite a lot.
And if you get stuck you can visit the NeetCode youtube channel to help you out with a good explanation to understand the problem and the logic behind it.
Conclusion
What I’m trying to say here is that I know that web development (and many fields like it) doesn’t require sharping that skill to the edge but solving a little problem from time to time on leet code will keep your logic fresh as usual.
Sources:
https://arc.dev/developer-blog/problem-solving-skills https://kepner-tregoe.com/blogs/what-is-problem-solving-and-why-is-it-important
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