Are you ever nervous that you will make a mistake?

Yes. But not for the reason you may be thinking. As part of my job as a spaceflight operations engineer, I have to prepare for and deal with unexpected events that may happen during a mission. Whenever you launch a spacecraft you accept that the mission will not always be easy sailing. Some of the issues we face can be planned for such as experiencing an internet outage, having an antenna ground station down for maintenance, or even cosmic radiation causing bit flips.  But other issues, we call them anomalies, may be a surprise! One thing that we can count on though, is that when humans are part of space operations we will inevitably make mistakes. And when these mistakes happen, instead of putting blame on the person at fault, we use these instances as an opportunity. By encouraging people to acknowledge their mistake quickly, and communicate them with their teams, the road to problem solving can begin much faster. Also the knowledge we gain from such scenarios can be used to improve our processes and hopefully prevent similar mistakes from happening in the future. Humans are imperfect so mistakes are a part of our DNA. It is about how we handle them that counts in the long run.

I think every engineer is nervous about  making mistakes, just as any other person on any other career path. However, engineering is not about what you can do alone--it's about what you can do as a team. There will always be people around you who can help guide you and mentor you so you make fewer mistakes along the way. However, you WILL make mistakes! Everyone does. The most important thing is to own your work and be honest with your superiors when confronted. A good leader will consider it a teaching moment to make you a better engineer.

Yes, there have been times when I was very nervous about making mistakes.  Most often those occasions were when I was learning how to design a new product or service.  Whenever I felt uneasy about something I would ask questions, check out reference materials or go to the equipment vendor.  Once I designed a circuit or other transport for the first time I would check the design, distance, and equipment inventory several times.  Sometimes one has to step away for a few hours or overnight and come back with fresh eyes, so to speak.  If time does not allow you could ask a teammate to take a look for you.  Always go by your instinct.  If something does not feel right check it again before submitting your work.  I would archive the final design to reference if I received a similar request in the future.

Everyone makes mistakes at one time or another the objective is to learn from our mistakes As a Sr. Engineering Consultant, I receive requests from other engineering departments for clarification or system processes, how to design when we do not have local facilities for example.  When I see a design mistake I reach out to the engineer directly to discuss the issue and use the opportunity as a teaching moment, not finger-pointing. No one is perfect and technology is constantly changing.  I am reading up on C-Band at the moment.

Good luck on your journey and please do not be hard on yourself when you do make a mistake.

​​As one of many women who self-identify as a perfectionist, I have been nervous about making mistakes in every aspect of my life since I was young. When I started my first engineering job, I knew that I would have a lot to learn and it would be a steep learning curve, both in the work culture and the technical work. As a recovering perfectionist I knew that it was unrealistic to think that I would never make a mistake or be wrong about something.

In order to minimize the likelihood that I would make a mistake, I made a habit of always speaking up and asking questions when I did not understand what someone was saying, even if I was afraid of embarrassing myself for not knowing the answer. I figured any embarrassment that I would feel from asking questions would be minimal in comparison to the embarrassment of trying to explain something that I did not truly understand.

Being vulnerable about asking questions made it easier to be vulnerable when I inevitably did make a mistake. When I realized I made the mistake, I knew that the fastest way to feel better about it was to come clean and be honest about what happened, and recommend a way to fix it. This not only made me feel better quickly, it increased the trust that my team members and manager had in me. When someone admits a mistake it shows that they value honesty and transparency over personal gain.

Mistakes happen and everyone makes mistakes. What matters is how you handle it when you realize that a mistake has been made.

As far as I know EVERYONE makes mistakes. When I was learning to sail, I realized that for me there were four stages of awareness regarding mistakes.

1. I didn't even realize I was making the mistake.
2. I realized something was wrong but I wasn't sure how to correct it.
3. I realized something was wrong and I fixed it on my own.
4. I prevented the mistake from ever happening.

Being in stage 1 or 2 is nothing to be ashamed of especially when you are learning something new. It helps to own up to a mistake early in the process because when building a process or product, decisions can be a foundation that other things are built upon. If you wait too long to communicate a mistake, it could be much more difficult to correct. Mistakes in design or code can have an impact on safety and security. If you are in stage 3, go ahead and correct the mistake and document your fix. You might still want to let someone know but you will be seen as someone who takes ownership for their mistakes. With experience, you will get to stage 4 and then you can help others to find and correct their own mistakes!

"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new" – Albert Einstein.

Well, in my professional career, I have made many mistakes, some small, some huge, but all of them have made me what I have become today. What I really mean is, the more you goof up, the more you learn.

I think as an engineer, when you make mistakes, it is in your hands to turn it into a learning opportunity. Messed up the design phase? It makes you cover up in the development phase and in turn the entire project deadline might suffer. If you fess up, well and good, if you don't, you can learn from that mistake, where and when you went wrong and jot it down in your memory should the same scenario repeat again.

As far as code goes, for me, I make mistakes as and when I write code and rectify them using small tests which test only small chunks of code. That helps me to write cleaner code. Of course, once the entire functionality is ready, we have integration tests that help us test the whole code along with the existing system. For each step of the way, technology has emerged so much that errors can be easily caught while at work rather than in production (real time user environment). I think being an engineer makes you learn so many things and turning failure into success is one of them :)

It’s not “what happens if” but instead “what do I do when” I make a mistake. Mistakes are going to happen and the best way to prepare for what you do after is to accept that (1) they are going to happen and (2) make sure you check and double-check your work always!

So let’s say you’ve made a mistake on a design or a code? What I’ve always told those who report to me (as well as to myself): fix it! Do everything in your power to own it, fix it, and learn from it. As a new engineer, most companies will give you a mentor or someone to help you check your work. Don’t ever be too proud or confident to accept that help until you have had time to learn more. If you find yourself with a mistake on your hands, seek advice and input from senior mentors, senior staff and go fix it! Accept those first few years of your career as key learning experiences and your mistakes will occur less often and with less criticality. Everyone makes mistakes and the greatest learning opportunity is from your own mistakes. We’ve all made them and it’s those few who choose to humble themselves enough to own their mistakes and learn from them who experience the greatest success.

Good luck and wishing you great success!

The role and duty of an engineer is to design systems which make our world better. Better doesn’t mean perfect, and sometimes there have been “engineering disasters” – but we have learned from them and do better.

As an engineer today you often are NOT working alone. We work in teams and there are multiple layers of safeguards in place to mitigate potential failures or design errors. While we do our best to engineer out flaws, we aren’t always successful. You cannot plan for every eventuality; however, you can approach each problem with a growth mindset ready to absorb information from multiple sources to choose the best available paths.

I know it sounds scary, especially when you think about potential loss of life or significant damage to the environment, but you are not on your own. It is not your burden alone. Systems, Best Practices, and teamwork ensure we put forth the best and safest options possible.

Sure. I get nervous from time to time that I'll make a mistake. However, in engineering it's understood that you'll make several mistakes, especially in the beginning of your career. What is important is that you learn from and document your mistakes, therefore you and your peers don't repeat them. The nice thing within engineering is your work is often supervised by mentors and managers. They oversee your work and sign off on final products. With that many layers of checks, it's hard for a mistake to go uncaught. It is unlikely that solely one person is responsible for a mistake of large magnitude. Be diligent but don't sweat it!

In honesty, yes I do get nervous making mistakes but then I remember that mistakes are a apart of one’s learning growth and success. If you’re not making mistakes especially because you’re curious and eager to learn then you’re simply not maximizing your potential enough. If you make a mistake and you recognize it always offer your sincere apologies and truly work on it the next time to reduce your mistakes. Don’t be afraid to apologize! We’re all humans who are trying to do their best. The more confident you become in your coding or designing (which will take time) the less the frequent your mistakes will be. So don’t be nervous as mistakes are some of the biggest reasons why the biggest inventions in the world took place!

All the time! We are human and it’s important to give yourself room to fail. Failing can lead to great discoveries and allows you to learn so do not think it’s a bad thing! The best way to avoid mistakes is to learn from them. Become stronger in your knowledge and allow ample time for testing and re-checking. After 30 years, I still make mistakes but it’s how you respond to them that makes the difference. Own it, take responsibility, find a solution, and move on. If you take responsibility and help find a solution, you will be respected more than if you try to hide it.

If you don’t make mistakes, you’re not trying or being innovative. As long as you learn from the mistake, it’s not a mistake. Also, own the mistake and make sure you fix it (alone or with the support of someone else). Then, don’t spend any time worrying about the mistake. I wish I could have all the minutes back that I spent worrying about a mistake I made, a comment I said, a lone wolf idea I voiced… those worry minutes aren’t worth it. Others around you forget about your error the minute it’s over and don’t think about it again – you shouldn’t fret about it either.

Always challenge, always be innovative, and never stop trying due to fear of error!

Everyone is nervous at one point or another about making a mistake. However, you cannot allow that nervousness to stop you from doing something.

When I am working on a large project that has a large impact, I always make sure to review my work, look at the different scenarios that could occur and plan for them. In the past, I have been in charge of demos showcasing our technology at high-visibility events. We made sure to evaluate every scenario we could think of occurring and have multiple backup plans for if that would happen. We would also make sure our executives were aware of any risks to the event so if they happened they would not be surprised.

If you do make a mistake (which will most likely happen), you need to own making the mistake and work to correct it. The faster you realize you made a mistake and take ownership the less of an impact it will have. In one of my prior jobs, I shipped the wrong equipment to a site that held up construction. Once I was alerted of the mistake, I worked quickly to resolve the issue by getting the right equipment shipped to the site as soon as possible. I also took this as a learning opportunity and spent more time learning about the equipment I was working with as well as double-checking with the construction manager and transportation team when sending out equipment to the site.

We should all do our best to avoid making mistakes by double-checking our work, being educated about the task we are working on and asking for help when we need it. We also need to know that mistakes will happen and the attitude you have once they occur will be important. If you avoid owning up to the mistake and try to cover it up there will be more consequences than owning the mistake and trying to fix it. We also need to look at mistakes as learning opportunities. Look back at the mistake you or others made and try to understand what went wrong and what guardrails can be put in place to avoid those mistakes in the future.

One needs to strike a balance between perfectionism and getting things done to meet deadlines. While you should always be as careful as possible, it is inevitable that humans make mistakes. While constant errors are not acceptable, occasional mistakes should be expected and there should be rigorous testing process to correct them before they go to production especially if the error could be life threatening. If you make a mistake, accept it, fix it, learn from it and move on.

Of course I am. Mistakes happen all the time, and when they do I own it, I inform those who need to know and I work very quickly to resolve the issue if at all possible. Never forget everyone makes mistakes!

Not all mistakes are failures… Like Post-It Notes! The adhesive formula was a mistake, and it took multiple years for 3M to bring Post-It Notes to the market.

Just like they say “change is inevitable,” making mistakes during our career duration or life is also inevitable. I have started handling more complicated design changes now and I can profoundly say that I don’t get nervous about thinking I will make a mistake. Rather than spending my time and energy thinking about something that could fall apart with my code, I focus on planning the design, gathering the requirement, and understanding it from the end-user perspective. When you plan things in such a way, you get the confidence where all your code or design can fail. By this time, you get enough knowledge to debug the issue and find the root cause.

I learn from my failures and mistakes. I ponder over the best solution to the problem and consider everything as learning. I remember a quote from Thomas Edison, it goes like “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that just won’t work.”

Keep yourself composed even if something fails or even when your code is not giving the expected output for the last 10 hours. Learn every time and plan out the functional and technical requirements before even starting writing down the code on the editor. And learn more!

You will make a mistake. You will make many mistakes. Be thorough, but be humble. We should always take our time, back check our work and ask for peer reviews. But inevitably, there will be mistakes. Own those mistakes, don't shirk responsibility. But learn from them, you'll continue to improve if you do.

Yes, especially when I started out. However what I found out was that it is more important to learn from that mistake. What was the mistake, what could I have done differently? "Mistakes" are part of the learning process, and being so fearful of making a mistake and doing nothing is worse, because you are not learning.

If you have any doubts, check with an experienced person to look over your work/idea. Remember, it took Thomas Edison many tries before he invented the light bulb. Each try was never a mistake, but a learning experience.

If you notice you made a mistake, the right thing to do is notify your superior immediately. But always double check your work and reference material and take notes of all your assumptions. Realizing a mistake ahead of time is ideal, but they happen all the time. Then it's up to the engineers to figure out how to make it work!

When I just started my career as an engineer in a software vendor, yes, I was definitely nervous about touching a system because I was not sure if I could resolve any technical issues caused by myself! It might be a cliché, but we have to make mistakes and learn lessons from them. I would say that is the quickest way to master anything.

Having said that, every customer pays you for your service and values you add to it. More importantly, a sense of responsibility always counts as a professional, so here is my tips for a beginner:

• Make sure that you have a trained mentor who can coach you and guide you when you are not confident about your work and seek for advice before making a mistake
• An engineer is always supposed to build codes and to develop a prototype through trial and error in a development environment so you can test your scenarios to refine your codes there
• A proof of concept (POC) is an exercise in which work is focused on determining whether business needs can be turned into a reality; technical feasibility can be assessed and you can verify that the idea will function as envisioned throughout the exercise
• Logical thinking will be required in any of the workplace and strengthening your debugging techniques in software testing can make you more certain about your deliverable
• Technically speaking, a digital world is symbolized by 0 and 1, which means that there should be an answer for a question, similarly a root cause for an issue, and you always can figure it out logically so no worries!

I am conscious of the possibility, however I do not let it lay heavy on my mind. Mistakes are not bad, they are something to learn from and give us the chance to be shown improvements.

There is always the age old concept to test an idea before a build such as with a model. That even applies to code. Test the function before you launch.

Now as an adult, I think of mistakes as opportunities to learn and not be flunked in a class. Most work projects are collaborations. People bounce ideas off one another. So few projects are solo efforts.

Design is teamwork. When you get started you typically work with a senior engineer and have a number of coordination meetings where the design is reviewed a number of times. For any construction project, the design goes through 30%, 60%, 90%, permit review and then is released for construction – that is called Issued for Construction (IFC) set which is used by the construction contractors.

At each submission, the design is reviewed first by the technical lead (e.g., Electrical /Mechanical/Civil/Structural Lead engineer), then reviewed by the Design integration manager who reviews the package as a whole and looks for interdisciplinary coordination, then a QA/QC Manager who is a senior engineer with 20+ years of experience and certified in quality control under programs like ISO9001. Then the document is released for client/owner review and comments. As suggested, 30% review is 30% of the design and a good stage to review if the design is in compliance with design intent. After 30% sign-off the design proceeds to 60% and goes through a similar process for 90% as well. At 90% level designs are typically submitted to permitting agencies which do another deep dive of codes and design compliance.

After the permit is obtained and the client signs off on design, the lead professional engineer will sign off on the IFC drawing set. This standard process checks for design compliance and mistakes are usually caught before the design is advanced. Some issues occur when interpretation of codes is different from different entities. That's why for any design project, specially major design engineering projects, multiple coordination meetings occur during the life of the project.

Also, during construction a QC manager checks to see if the contractor is constructing to design. At times, the contractor needs to make changes. These can't be unilateral changes. The contractors send Request for Information (RFI's) to the designer to request specific changes. Once they are approved and the design and construction is completed, all approved changes are red-lined and captured in the As-Built set. The next time this project is touched for rehabilitation, typically the As-Built set is first consulted.