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About this talk
"Everyone makes mistakes." We've heard it time and again. But there's always that nagging voice inside our heads telling us to hide it away somewhere. But why be ashamed?! Besides, this can lead to more mistakes in the future. We'll take a look at some of my mistakes and even look at some extreme cases where mistakes can cost lives.
As well as looking at how hiding mistakes can be damaging to our confidence as well as to our work, we'll discuss how and when to talk about our mistakes along with success stories and how highlighting past mistakes can help save time, effort, and - most importantly - shame as individuals, teams, and as a community.
Talk Recording
Slides
Resources
- Personal blog
- The learning opportunities hiding in our failures (and Eskreis-Winkler and Fishbach study)
- Criminal podcast #133: Red Hair, Gold Car
- @CliffordAgius on Twitter
- Pilot Critical Decision Making skills talk at Build Stuff Conf
- "Why are you being such a git about it?" talk
- "Why are you being such a git about it?" blog
🌈 Comment below and ask me questions — I might just answer them in the comment section!
About me
Hi! I'm Joe Glombek — a senior .NET web developer who's been working with various British digital agencies for the past decade and is an Umbraco MVP. In the 5-to-9, I'm an adventure-loving outdoorsman and can often be seen out hiking or canoeing with my dog, Carter.
This on-demand talk is part of CodeLand 2022 — a virtual conference brought to you by CodeNewbie & DEV on June 16 & 17, 2022.
Latest comments (29)
Great talk
Thank you!
Loved the talk! Especially the slide design & style which went well with the topic of the talk. Also really appreciate the amazing pun in the talk title!
Thank you - I do try my best 😉
This is so eye-opening. I remember how terrible I felt some weeks back when I couldn't fix certain bugs in my code.
I didn't feel like sharing my mistakes as well because I didn't wan't to be seen as dumb.
Well, now I know better!
What's helped me be more open to admitting I've made a mistake has been seeing my uni professors and now my colleagues, senior devs, own their mistakes. Growing up I didn't see much of that from my teachers for example. But getting to university it was very common for a professor to go "Oh yes, you're right I made a mistake there. Good catch." And now I'm seeing that attitude from the developers I work with and it's great.
People pointing out mistakes means that everyone is paying attention and we're less likely to put out buggy code that will cause a headache later.
I am so not hiding my mistakes but more like: "Uh, I made a mistake? Tell me everything about it. I want to figure out how I can do this better next time" 🤓
Hi Joe. Thanks for helping the community. Everyone needs to know that making mistakes are okay and are actually part of the process. This message cant' be said enough! You mentioned coding in public and gave posting the code to as open source as an example. What can someone do if they are bound by their company not to publish their code to open source (such as the code is proprietary?) Any tips on how might they get their dept to incorporate code reviews or version control if they don't currently use them? Also, in the case of personal projects (non-proprietary) do you recommend streaming code live and what are ups and downs if so? Thanks again for your ideas and talk!!!
I guarantee your closed-source product uses open source packages/plugins. There's real value in contributing to open source products that your company uses - so ask your boss if you can do this on the clock! Open source is good for you and your company, so its always worth asking.
If in work isn't an option, you can find an open source project that interests you in your free time if you like - but be sure not to overwork yourself!
I've only tried live streaming code a couple of times, but I found a few really supportive viewers that way - if it appeals to you, give it a go! Send me a link and if I'm about I'll watch!
I am loving this talk.
At what stage of growth in an space can one celebrate mistake?
Every stage! It's hard to do for anybody - but the more mistakes you share and discuss, the better we can all become 💪🏻
Definitely agree that mistakes are invaluable and failure is necessary. Success isn’t a goal, it’s a process. Thank you for sharing your insights!
Great tip for Commit history
Thanks! Check out the "Why are you being such a git about it?" links above if you're interested in more!
good talk. It is helpful to share your mistakes. I've used my mistakes to write documentation for the next person.
Thank you, that was helpful advice :)
For people who might be holding back from asking questions, or admitting to mistakes because they might be feeling like it proves that they really shouldn't be in their job/position, feeding into their Impostor Syndrome... Any thoughts on why Impostor Syndrome is so prevalent in the tech community, among early career or new/still learning developers?
Imposter syndrome can follow you all the way through your career - it's not just newbies! For example, I'm always shocked (but honored!) to have my talks selected at events! (And to receive comments, thank you!)
Being aware of imposter syndrome is a great start to overcoming it. If you know it exists, you can start to question it.
I'm by no means an expert on imposter syndrome, but if you're interested there are many other resources available - just search!
Yes sorry I meant to say especially among early career new etc not just among new devs. Personally I find that, the more I'm learning and building and figuring things out, the easier it is to squash that voice... but it's definitely always there haha.
This talk posits a great perspective - admitting mistakes up front allows them to be addressed before they even really become problems. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for the inspiring information about the decision making model!
Much more detail in Clifford's talk if you want more!
Thank you for taking the time to respond to me <3
Our mistakes/failures/setbacks allow us to learn and grow - obvs we all want to be perfect as much as we can, but I've found I learn way more when I figure something out than just am given an answer 🙂