

The Worst Mistake You Can Make as an Intern - Suraj757
http://surajjain.tumblr.com/post/26974985040/the-worst-mistake-you-can-make-as-an-intern

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protomyth
Dropping the production database ranks up there.

Of course, giving an intern privileges on production might be the biggest
mistake an employee can make.

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spaghetti
One mistake is working with people who say things like "don't make the same
mistake twice." This type of fear-based motivation is counter-productive for
both the employee and the employer. The new employee's self-confidence is
already shot if they make a mistake. "You better not mess up again!" further
undermines their self-confidence and starts a downward spiral. The employee
feels progressively worse, their lack of confidence increases the probability
of mistakes on the job and the employer's investment in the new hire is
largely flushed down the drain.

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jack-r-abbit
"you better not mess up again" != "don't make the same mistake twice"

Mistakes happen... we all know that. But the article is talking more about
what it says about a person who doesn't learn from that mistake. If you have
made a mistake, you _should_ be fearful of making it again. So fearful that
you are compelled to figure out why/how you made the mistake and figure out
how to avoid making it again.

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Suraj757
Thanks, this captures most of the mentality of what I was trying to get at.
However, I don't know if "so fearful" is the right mentality that I would
focus on.

I would turn it around and say that the intern should have enough pride in
their work to be "compelled to figure out why/how you made the mistake and
figure out how to avoid making it again."

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jack-r-abbit
True. I probably would not have used the word _fearful_ if the parent post had
not. Having pride in your work is better.

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philip1209
I think the biggest mistake I made as an intern was accepting an internship .
. . I quit my internship last week and am running my own company full-time
now.

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antidaily
I believe that mistake is called over-confidence. (just kidding)

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jack-r-abbit
Spoiler Alert: The article says the biggest mistake an intern can make is
making the same mistake twice.

I think it is safe to say that that can be applied to pretty much everybody.

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Suraj757
True. You can definitely expand the message to be for everyone. I just was
thinking about our interns when I wrote it.

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jszielenski
Letting the coffee pot go dry.

