Do you know how many mistakes the average software engineer makes over their career?
It’s a lot.
In fact, it’s directly proportional to the number of things a software engineer does.
The more you do, the more you screw up. That’s how it works.
Pretending that somehow we are invincible as software engineers is just that. It’s a pretence.
It’s an ego thing.
It maybe a ‘brogrammer’ thing or it may be a competition thing.
All I know is that in my long career, I’ve certainly been guilty of competition. I’ve been hubristic. I’ve pretended or dammit I have just KNOWN better than others and said so.
But every time I made a pose, or shut someone down, there was a small voice inside me saying “I really don’t know, I’m just bluffing and staring you down”.
So, if you’re going to do anything as a software engineer: stay humble.
You don’t know when the next screw up is going to happen.
And when it does happen, and it will, then just think before you give feedback.
Think before you criticise. This could have been you. And it will be you again in the future.