Failure, a Follow-up

Before starting to code, I honestly couldn't remember that last time I really felt like I had failed at something.

I mean really failed.

When was your last time? College? High School? This morning when you failed to make it to work on time? I left college after a year and to this day I don't consider that a failure, it was a choice that I made and was and still is the right choice for me. No, I think the last time I really felt the sting of failure and disappointment was when I didn't make the Varsity Cheerleading squad in 9th grade, but was delegated JV captain.

You might be thinking: "well what's wrong with JV?", and the answer would honestly be "nothing", but I hadn't achieved my goal and I remember feeling absolutely crushed.

I'd worked so hard on my craft but I still had just missed the mark. My friends congratulated me on my new title of team captain, but most of them made Varsity, so it was bittersweet.

Skip to the end of the season: during my time as captain, our squad earned the reputation of being a strong, competitive unit. We won the title of 'Camp Champs' during our summer session, beating out 30 other squads, and the following season saw more minority girls than ever trying out for the team. (That last part meant the most to me.)

At that time I couldn't see it, but looking back I know now that my coach saw something in me that, with additional time and polishing, could prove to be something special. She extended my time in training, and in turn provided an opportunity for me to achieve something even greater than my original goal.

Years later I've put down the pom-poms, and have put my spirit fingers back to work on the keyboard, and ten months into learning full-stack software development, I find myself failing almost every day.

¯ \ (ツ)/¯

Don't Be Afraid to Fail

Regardless of this fact, I feel that the most important thing I've learned on this digital journey is not even really learning how to code, but truly, how to fail and not take it personally.

I grew up in the whole "Failure is not an option" era, so the concept of learning how to fail fast and hard was initially very distressing for me, and asking a lot of questions felt like a trap setup to expose me as an imposter.

I'm so glad to have finally gotten both of those chips off of my shoulder. This year has taught me that asking questions doesn't show a lack of intelligence, but an interest in additional insight.

Additionally, and maybe even more importantly, I've learned that failure doesn't mean incompetence, and it can even be a mechanism for further research and testing.

Let's be brutally honest, failure is the perfect tool for formulating innovative hypotheses. (You definitely know what doesn't work at least!)

Don't Be Afraid to Be Wrong

Develop a fearlessness of being wrong, and practice the patience to get through and follow-up on failure, because in this realm of creativity, it is guaranteed to happen.

Just the same as it is with any other instance: failure isn't the part to get hung up on, it's what happens after failure that dictates finality or revival.

When learning to code don't be afraid to be wrong, don't be afraid to fail, and don't feel ashamed or discouraged by it when you do. Narrowly missing success doesn't mean that one is not cut out for this work, it has no bearing on one's intelligence or ability.

By learning how to rebound from these instances we actually prove our ability to ourselves if no one else.

I've had to overcome a lot of failures and losses this year to bask in what feels like only sparing moments of success, but those moments feel absolutely incredible and well-deserved when they do come, just because of the amount of effort that went into iterating towards it.

In Conclusion

Next time you face failure, remember to rebound. By getting past the tough moments, we get to the truly rewarding ones. Don't doubt your abilities, just trust yourself and ask for help!

Put your pride aside and don't be afraid to be wrong, and remember to ask questions! We create safe spaces in the work place when we can be open with our team members about the things we don't know and can build healthy work-relationships that encourage questions, ideas, and input from everyone.

Finally, if failure does lead to a setback, don't quit! Stay resilient and keep moving forward, the solution is out there just waiting on your arrival, sometimes it just takes a little longer. The marathon continues, so don't give up before you reach the finish line.

I'm cheering for you!