[emodendroket]

I've been at this for 8 years now and I think you're dreaming if you believe you'll ever get to the point where you're never just beating your head against the wall with something frustrating and non-obvious, no matter how great your learning or deduction skills are. Either that or you're much better at it than I am.

[kelnos]

FWIW I've been doing this for 20 years now and I completely agree with you. Knowing when to get a fresh perspective on a problem is a part of learning healthy problem solving skills, and it's not often that banging your head against a problem for a full day with no progress is better for your skills development than asking for help after, say, an hour or two.

And it's not like you're going to someone more senior and saying "I'm stuck; do my work for me". Ideally you're just getting a strong hint as to the right approach to take, and can make progress with that.