Why Failure Is Key In Web Development
Why Failure Is Key In Web Developing
In our constant quest to perfection, we are bound to fail. But failure is something that we as humans tend to hate. We are engineered to love success so much that we overlook the importance and true necessity of failure in our endeavours. We lack the innate ability to appreciate that it is failure and multiple attempts that act as the stepping stones to eventual success. The necessity of failure is something that every human beings needs at one point in life, and web developers are not an exception.
My journey as a programmer and an ardent web developer has been marred by numerous instances of failure. Instances which have shaped be and moulded me to be the type of person that I am. I have had to endure the kinds of failures that rocked my world, completely altered the landscape of my relationships and threatened to end my career as a web developer. As much as these failures hurt, I can look back and smile because they were an important phases of my life. The life-altering lessons I picked up along the way have surely transformed me. Not to say that I am not making these mistakes anymore but I am more cautious and can effectively manoeuvre through most obstacles thanks to the past failures and experiences that I had. So, what really is the necessity of failure for web developers? How important are failures in this field? Why is it necessary to fail sometimes?
- Failures culminate into experience
The more you fail, the more experienced you become. The more you learn. The moment you fail at something, say writing a code that condenses a web page to fit all mobile device, you will have learnt something new. As much as we hate the failure, it is a truly an invaluable feeling and it will serve as a wakeup call to you.
- Failures boost your resilience and perseverance levels
Nothing tests your endurance and patience more than failure. Failures will drive you close to your breaking point. After working so hard on something, you come to realize that you were not right and have to start from the ground again. This resilience and perseverance to keep trying even when we fail at first attempt serves to prepare us for true greatness and success.
Let’s face it, there is not a field filled with more chances of failing that web development. Here, just a simple comma can make a whole line of code useless. You will need to brace yourself for failure if you are to make it in this field.
- Failure is part of learning
When you fail at something, you are getting first-hand knowledge of how that thing is not done. Knowing that something is not done in a particular manner, will help you avoid similar mistakes in future. The pain of having failed at your first or second attempt is normally so much that you will never forget where you went wrong. That knowledge acquired will be very instrumental for future projects. It’s not that bad to fail after all it seems.
- Failure is an opportunity to grow
When we fail at doing something in life, we grow and mature as human beings. This includes web development and coding at large. We reach deeper meanings and understandings about our lives and why we’re doing the things that we’re doing. This helps us to reflect and take things into perspective, developing meaning from painful situations.
This growth, boosts our perspective on things. We are able to look at things from a positive note rather than feeling disappointed about our failures. This growth further boosts our development and ability to come up with better projects.
- Failure improves decision-making
When we fail at something, we tend to be more cautious in the subsequent attempts. We become more vigil and cautious of what is going on around us. The fear attributed to failure makes us want to proceed with care. Nobody wants to commit the same mistake twice or thrice in their lives. This means that in the end we will have made progress in not just our web development but our lives at large.
The necessity of failure in web development can therefore not be downplayed. As much as we all aspire to get things done perfectly without stumbling, we have to appreciate that there are always numerous obstacles looking to knock us down. Our ability to get up and dust ourselves to keep moving forward is what determines how far our journey will go in web development.
My advice to all web developers and aspiring developers is that they should be open to failure, and open their minds up to the challenges that come with the failure. Having a fixed mind that makes you think that you are terrible at coding because you failed at doing something, will do you more than good. Embrace failure, value it but never commit the same mistake twice.
