Failure is an option?
Tags: motivation, beginners, todayilearned
Published: 2021-03-25 22:13:23

Ok, here me out. While it sounds like some 'wanna-be' profound muttering, I do think it's something that's not said enough. The caveat here is kind of a 'read the room' type approach. If you're driving a car on public roads, increasing the speed in which you take that on-ramp to work by +5 mph until your wheels slip and you find yourself attempting to convince authorities that it was for science...is dumb...don't be dumb.

But coding, we're here for coding, development, design, etc. Right? Anyway, the whole failure thing. Elon Musk's quote resonated with me recently, because I was able to witness this practice in real time. An experimental set of rocket test went as follows:

Concept design that was deemed impossible to work because it looked like a grain silo with tiny wings.
*First test flight that showed engines were capable of lifting the vehicle and initiating the descent and landing procedure.
*Second test flight with modifications made to fueling and other control systems.
*Third test resulted in a hard, but successful landing attempt.
All of these test ended in epic fashion...the prototypes exploded in a glorious fashion. A lot of people were disappointed in the rocket not landing on the first attempt or witnessing all of the engineering marvels and days of labor put into the build. But for the teams behind these builds, every test was a success. But how?

Every explosive ending gave tons of valuable data. This led to brainstorming potential issues to establishing real-life limitations of different components and scenarios. Every 'misstep' gave way to refined checklist and 'what not to do's'. Even Elon's response of 'we were too dumb' was a tongue-n-cheek poke at all of the internet sleuths and critics jumping to hypothetical conclusions and sometimes bizarre assumptions as to what needs to be done. Even after a successful landing, the rocket exploded and while it makes reviewing the post launch status of the vessel much more difficult...it still garnered tons of usable data and experiences to build on for future launches.

So what about us...what does this have to do with us. If things are not failing, you're not innovating enough? To some extent...absolutely.

*90's web pages look incredibly different from what we see today because of innovation.
*Electric cars are becoming more norm and less fad because of innovation.
*Travel and commerce industries are constantly revolving because of innovation.

20 years ago, if I said I took a picture with my phone...people would think I was crazy. And today...they could ask me to forward it to their email to add to an app later. What I'm getting at is...in all of these endeavors, mistakes are made and lessons are learned. And for us...

Don't give up. That failed interview could give you insight on how to better prepare for the next one. That failed variable could highlight some vulnerabilities in your coding process. That burned fajita may tell you to pay more attention, turn the heat down, or don't overcook what should've been a yummy lunch. Nonetheless, don't give up...but also, pay attention and try to dive deep to extract the lessons learned from experience.

Otherwise...you'll keep burning fajitas.