Introduction

Have you ever wasted hours, days even on something so insignificant with such significant consequences? If not, why haven't you? See, mistakes are a huge part of our lives. We rely on them to teach us the most valuable lessons of life. These lessons are not like those you learn in school, or through a book. These are lessons you learn by doing, by taking action. I made a pretty insignificant mistake with some significant consequences and an incredible life lesson attached. Aren't you curious about what it is I did?

The Mistake

I am a software developer, and to be honest not even that. I was still an intern that the time, but I am working in the real world, you know, learning the ropes, programming in the real world, making software that has real meaning. The software isn't even the most meaningful part, it is the real world experience involved. See, in school, we are babied, given simple instructions and completely abstracted from software configuration. We never have to use the terminal unless it is to use emacs to open a file or cp to copy a file, you know basic console commands.

In the real world, however, you have to configure IP tables or start services. I didn't know anything about how services even work at the time. I just thought that computers just run the software after you make the program. There is so much more. I had to configure and enable the VPN service and use systemct1 to do so. I have no knowledge of what systemct1 is or what it even does. I just know I have to use this to start the VPN service. So imagine my frustration when I sat behind the computer for half a day trying this one command, checking my spelling, reading forums etc. with no luck. "I can't just ask for help, imagine how stupid I'll look!" I thought for half the day. Now imagine how stupid I looked when I told a fellow developer and they told me that I was typing a "1" instead of an "l". Omg, what! They look the same!

The Lessons

So I still get teased to this day for this mistake about 1 year ago. I better have learned an important lesson right? Yeah, here's what I got from the situation.

1. Don't be afraid to ask for help right away if you think someone already knows the answer or has the experience to solve it fast.
   Now don't get me wrong, I am not telling you to bother someone every time the tutorial doesn't work, because unfortunately, there is no tutorial for life and every now and then, you will need to solve these type of problems on your own. I am simply stating that if you (a), lack the experience (b), spent a significant amount of time and effort (c), have access to more experienced individuals or (d), it is stopping you from getting your real work done, then ask. Just ask the question. What is the worst that happens? They don't know how to help you and you have to spend more time to find the answer? Or they think you are pretty stupid? Does it matter at the end of the day if you got the main job done?

2. Don't act blindly
   Tutorials are great, but they are better when they explain why you are doing something. There are many tutorials that tell you what to do, but very few that say why. Why was I typing sudo systemctl start <service>? What is systemctl, what does it do, how do services work? These are the questions that I should have tried to answer rather than trying to check if I made a typo. I didn't even know why I was doing what I was doing! Now that is much more embarrassing than making a typo.

3. Try a different font or a different enviornment
   Slightly more specific to the topic, but I probably should have changed the font or colors on my system if they were really illegible. Why did I leave my console as default and accept it as is? I may not have known the concept of shells at the time, but even I knew how to change the color of my console and my font family. Don't be afraid of change. It may get worse, or it may let you tell the difference between an "l" and a "1."

Conclusion

After the embarrassing life event was over, I learned my lessons. Don't be afraid of your environment, don't act blindly and ask for help if you need it. I already made the mistake which cost me a year plus of heckling and jokes. On the bright side, I now use oh-my-zsh to change my theme of my terminal and I installed new more legible fonts, I try to find tutorials that teach me not just how but why to do something, and I am less afraid to ask a question.

Hopefully, you were able to take away something from me sharing this informative and slightly embarrassing story of mine. If you like this concept, upvote ☝ this article, follow @hersh1498 and share your thoughts by commenting below