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Cover image for Why mistakes at work should not be discriminatory (and why they sometimes are).
DanieleAurilio
DanieleAurilio

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Why mistakes at work should not be discriminatory (and why they sometimes are).

Nobody was born learned

Since i was born my grandmother tells me “Nobody was born learned”, but people at work seems didn’t remember this. Everyday people learn something, and the biggest lesson comes from mistakes. Everyone knows how is complicated write code and write good code if you are a junior ( in most cases good code doesn’t exist 😛 ), but senior doesn’t care what you did, and why. If you did some mistakes, write some bugs or fails a new improvement, you will be discriminated against. It is not something that happens the first time, but over time. If you fails more times, your credibility within the team drops and no one cares your mood. You can study, learn, grow, develop cool stuff (with errors), contribute to the best open source project, but your reputation will not be rebuilt. And if you are never appreciated, there is a slow detachment from your work team, which will lead you to fall into the trap of the impostor syndrome. Like a dog chasing its own tail, you will think that the fault is yours.

Let me clarify, this speech is quite crude and written in a flash, many may never find themselves in this condition, but we are talking about a very subtle discrimination, almost imperceptible, which can cause annoyance when you suffer it.

Look at yourself in the mirror

If at work you are discriminated, not appreciated or simply ignored, please look at yourself in the mirror.

The mirror know exactly who are you, what are you doing and where are you . Not a senior or tech lead in company, until the other day they did not know about your existence, nobody cares about your growth. Only to yourself. No one would feed you, with the risk that one day you might take his place. It is survival in a world which run too fast. Make mistakes as many times as you want, you don't have to justify yourself in front of anyone. Companies and people pass, your goals remain and evolve over time.

Photo by Inga Gezalian on Unsplash

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redrogue12 profile image
Edgar X. González Cortés

Hey I know exactly what you are talking about. I've seen it a couple times where you have a junior dev, give them tasks without any support. They do their best but it's not super good work. Then from then on, they are considered the "weak" part of the chain. Their comments are disregarded. Their opinions don't matter now to others. There is this invisible hierarchy and they are at the bottom. It's very demoralizing.

The solution I've seen, unfortunately, is to develop yourself as much as you can in your own time. Like spend a period of time building yourself into a much better programmer. Then start over at another company.

The other solution I can see is if a senior dev takes notice of you and decides to correct the situation from the top.