Seems like you're going about it backwards - start with the reference docs to figure out how something _should_ work, then if that breaks down start looking to

Seems like you're going about it backwards - start with the reference docs to figure out how something _should_ work, then if that breaks down start looking to other sources for workarounds or more information. This approach will force you to get better at understanding TFM. Going to SO or blogs may be a quick way to get a solution but as a software engineer you also need to understand how and why that solution works, which is where the reference docs come in. If you're finding that TFM is just too dense to get through then you probably need to start learning/understanding the building blocks in whatever way works best for you (online courses, wikipedia, more reference manuals, tutorials, etc).