Fear and pride are two things you need to get rid of if you're going to be a (happy) software developer.
I don't know why, but for whatever reason, I have a deep-seated need to be correct. Perhaps I think my value comes from being right all of the time or fear others will think I am stupid, but it's there. This desire for perfection has made me terrified of answering questions in class. If I am wrong, everyone will know and my value in their eyes will be diminished.
Guess what? It doesn't matter.
Today, I awkwardly offered to try a problem in front of the whole class. We are learning how to select things with SQL in DbVisualizer. I got most of it correct, but floundered on further refining the data, which rendered an error.
I did not burst into flames.
It was seriously okay. Maybe I've grown since college, but I didn't mind being wrong. Brian didn't make a big deal out of it either and showed me how to fix my mistake.
I didn't feel like my classmates were judging me and if they were, that's on them. By taking a chance at being wrong, I got a learning experience. I won't make the same mistake in the future and hopefully neither will anyone else who may have been confused about the same thing.
Life gets easier if you don't take yourself so seriously. Correction is a good thing; it allows for improvement. Remember that you are not your code and your value as a human being is not linked to it. Even the best software developers have to Google things and need help. :)
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