You're not alone. What you describing is the problem with abstractions. They are fine and dandy when they hide the details and let you produce a greater volume

You're not alone. What you describing is the problem with abstractions. They are fine and dandy when they hide the details and let you produce a greater volume of results than if you had to develop from basic principles. Unfortunately, most abstractions are brittle and often poorly maintained. I have had many experiences comparable to yours. I think you have two distinct problems. Your manager is obviously ignorant and possibly techno-illiterate (the most common variety of their species). To use an analogy, he is handing you a pair of Nike shoes and expecting you to outrun Usain Bolt - just like that. No training, no warm-up. Just Go! As for the technical problems, when you are confronted with a problem that is beyond your abilities to fix, you tell your manager that they need to either give you time to debug the issue or they need to hire a specialist to fix it. Another analogy: if your car is not running and you don't have the skills to repair it, you take it to a competent mechanic. Nobody knows how to fix everything all the time. That is simply the price we pay for the ever increasing technological complexity. With cars people understand the issue. Seems like it is less obvious to the average person when it comes to software development.