Coding is a crystal clear example of the importance of managing expectations. You want that code to work the first time flawlessly, and for your supervisor, tester, or client to be happy with what you have done, but that is not always the way that it works out.

The truth is that programming anything with even a modest level of complexity almost always involves trial and error. Progress is rarely linear, and sometimes it doesn’t seem to be happening at all. You may find yourself rewriting, debugging, and starting from scratch more times than you thought. Even experienced developers regularly run into these issues. It is simply a part of the trade.

This is why it is so important to have ways to relieve some of that pressure, reminding yourself that these struggles are normal. Programming memes don’t magically solve the bug that’s been hiding from you all day, but they do acknowledge the pain of the experience that every coder has gone through at some point. They offer humor along with a sense of community. If you’re still skeptical, a quick look at the examples below may be enough to convince you.