Cleaning Up Your Own Messes
John Smith talks about how being both a programmer and parent means constantly cleaning up messes - both literal ones (like spilled milk) and figurative ones (like coding bugs). He believes that learning from our mistakes is key no matter what kind of mess we're dealing with!
Feb. 02, 2023 9:57PM
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A father helping his son clean up spilled milk off of the kitchen floor while smiling at each other lovingly
It’s a feeling we all know too well. You’re working on something and you think it’s perfect, only to look back later and realize that it could have been done better. As a programmer and as a parent, this feeling is especially familiar for John Smith. “I’m always cleaning up shit created by a younger version of myself,” he says with a laugh. John has been programming since he was in high school and has seen the technology industry evolve over the years. He remembers when coding was more of an art form than anything else; you had to be creative to get things working properly. But now, with advances in technology, there are more tools available to make coding easier than ever before. However, this doesn’t mean that mistakes can’t still be made. John finds himself constantly going back through his code to fix bugs or refactor old code so that it works better with newer technologies. “It can be really frustrating at times because I feel like I should have known better when I wrote the code originally, but hindsight is 20/20 as they say!” he explains. As a parent of two young children, John also finds himself cleaning up messes made by his kids on a daily basis – both literal and figurative ones! From spilled milk on the kitchen floor to temper tantrums in public places – parenting can be quite challenging at times! But just like with coding mistakes, John knows that these moments will pass eventually and that he will look back one day and laugh about them (hopefully!). In both cases – programming and parenting – John believes that learning from your mistakes is key. “It can be hard not to beat yourself up over mistakes but ultimately they help us grow as people if we take the time to reflect on them afterwards," he says thoughtfully. "And if nothing else - they make for some great stories down the line!"