The few peers I work with might not have an answer. IMO this is the greatest obstacle to mainly working solo.

I can surely Google a lot or open up a question at SO[1] or SE[2] for every single aspect, but I feel like I am lacking general understanding of the topic – particularly given how often I trip over this.

But where do you turn with this? They say the hardest things about CS is cache invalidation and naming things. From my experience, the most difficult thing to do and where experience really matters most is getting to grips with the gazillion patterns and tools available and how to choose them. I often don't know where to look for the right reading material, and a Bachelor's degree hasn't changed this either. How do you cope with it?

[1] https://stackoverflow.com [2] https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com