Make still works, though you should try to use the package manager for everything if possible.

It's likely that you're missing dependencies, package managers evolved because it is incredibly tedious to try a build, fail because of a missing dependency, so you grab that dependency and it fails to build because of a missing dependency, etcetcetc.

One day, when I am ready for the abuse, I will ask for help

In my experience the abuse isn't so bad as long as you've done a bit of research on your own and explain what you've tried so far. You'll still get some flak, but it wouldn't be the Internet without a few assholes.

Check the Arch and Gentoo wikis, even if you don't use them. Often they have good information that can point you in the right direction (obviously be extra careful because a lot of instructions are distro specific).