Also if you think the chances of being told "here is a really well documented X step process you follow to crack this" is very hard to come across and/or needs

Also if you think the chances of being told "here is a really well documented X step process you follow to crack this" is very hard to come across and/or needs Uber levels of serendipity (or just midly competent teachers) how is a completely subjective, random biased-person-in-the middle-with-random-criteria-for-different-people process supposed to be explained or discovered?