At a recent meetup, developers discussed "dependency hell," a situation when software requires conflicting dependencies installed in the same environment. This issue can arise due to various reasons such as outdated or incompatible versions of libraries, native extensions, or system libraries. The author shares their personal experience with dependency hell and emphasizes that it's a common problem that affects everyone, regardless of technology or ecosystem. To escape dependency hell, developers can experiment with different versions of dependencies, fork open-source projects to fix issues, find or write replacement dependencies, or downgrade incompatible components. However, the author notes that shame is not an effective response to dependency hell, as it leads to dwelling on what others might think and prevents teams from working together to resolve the issue. Instead, acceptance, compassion, and teamwork are essential in overcoming dependency hell, both for individuals and teams.