I will add the note...
Although failure is a good way to learn, the wise learn from the failures of others.
Work smarter, not harder.
You can bang your head against something for days on end, and get nowhere. You can take a break and do something fun, and a solution will pop into your head.
For all the projects I've made, I haven't burned very many transistors. Some have told stories, bragged even, about "buckets" filled with burned transistors. This approach does not make sense to me; you repeat something ten times, and ten times it blows the transistors -- what have you leaned? Only one way how to not do it (p <= 0.05). Strive to research and understand the inner workings of your devices and circuits; the transistor is blowing because of peak voltage or current, but why? Get out the scope and see what that's coming from. Can you fix it in the control circuitry? Does it need a hardware fix? Can you put in a snubber, is that a good idea? Will it burn too much power?
Stuff like that. Thinking creatively about solutions is, by far, the most valuable skill you can offer, in any field!
Tim