I know when I first started coding, I would often get frustrated. Really frustrated sometimes. It was my first real programming job, I didn't really know UNIX at all, so I had to learn all that, learn emacs, learn Java and curses and all sorts of stuff, and pretend I knew what everyone was talking about. However, I mostly hid my frustration from my colleagues - i would just go out for a 3 hour bike ride on the Burke-Gilman trail instead.

When you don't know enough to tackle the problem at hand, sometimes one gets irritable, curses, hates the world, etc. At least I've been through that.

I found it took lots of practice coding to get over the frustration, and also perhaps to stop wanting the code to just work, and learning to take a step back, or a long bike ride, and just step through things logically.

One of the best things i've done for myself is to remember to just go outside and take a ten minute walk, or a tea time break with some coworkers, or gossip for an hour at starbucks, or just leave it alone for a day - and afterwards the problem becomes clear. Or it doesn't but I have a fresh attitude towards it.

It sounds like this guy needs some mentoring perhaps. Also, it's possible he just has issues in general. Is he like this when he's not coding too?

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