Ask HN: What was your biggest fuckup of 2014? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What was your biggest fuckup of 2014?

13 points3stripe21 comments

As a counterpoint to all the 'look what awesome stuff I did this year' articles...

What didn't work out for you this year? What would you do differently if you could?

I was involved in a state department funded project. It was all around human rights and security, so it had some real virtue, but on the other hand, people in that sector are frequently nasty; apologetically rude well past the point of being 'bluntly honest,' very full of themselves around their 'mission,' even when other approaches, like outright commercial ones, work better, and in this case tiresomely sexist and ultimately being and fulfilling a hierarchical top-down world (not surprising given the funding source and eventual status in the buddy network) while making all kinds of noise about being a progressive organization.

After a few years working on the project I'd put in some good ideas that led to $1M+ in funding (mostly grants) and lifted the company from hand to mouth to a real thing. And in general I really helped to shape the organization in positive ways. Unfortunately the person with the direct connection to funding really didn't understand development, wanted me to be something I wasn't, and really had poor people skills as evidenced by the trail of people he'd burned over time. So early this year things got so heated that I left. I've been around for a while and from experience might have left without burning bridges, but while I wasn't rude, I made it very clear that I didn't appreciate what was happening.

Eight months later it still bothers me, because I should have seen it coming, and because I wasn't able to change it, nor did I find a way to turn it to my advantage.

<quote>Eight months later it still bothers me, because I should have seen it coming, and because I wasn't able to change it, nor did I find a way to turn it to my advantage.</quote> I'm dealing this due to a failed project (last year was spent on it). I (and other team members) did see it coming though. I'm still sad/mad that our higher ups didn't heed credible guidance.

Well, more correctly, I did see it coming, but it was like seeing a train wreck happening in slow motion and not being able to stop it. Everyone else on the team found it a problem too, but they wouldn't really organize (or assert themselves in general). But c'est la vie, there are other good opportunities.

Well... I launched a sale on my online shop and forgot to enable stock control.

Which results in my selling about 20 more t-shirts than I had available. Ouch.

I decided to be open about the mistake and the next day I manually sent an email to everyone whose order couldn't be fulfilled to explain what had happened.

The surprising thing was that everyone was cool about it. Honesty for the win :)

The surprising thing was that everyone was cool about it. Honesty for the win :)

People generally respond well when treated like people. Some don't, which is unfortunate. That's both a popular and silly reason for one (businesses, people with a pulpit, etc) to treat people like unruly masses as a defense.

I ran out of runway for my startup, so I took a contract job as a PM in a well-funded startup that has little or no traction.

Company is full of senior management-type guys who have their eyes on the big payout, but because they're well-funded and don't know what they're doing, they want to offshore everything. That's right: they're offshoring a new product that they themselves do not grasp. The only specs are some existing code they bought and whatever comes out of their mouth in a sales meeting. This makes what would normally be just a clusterfuck turn into a royal, 5-star clusterfuck.

I just saw them take 15 people and 3 months to do what 1 guy could do in 2 weeks. And they did it with 20-hour days, yelling, and all the other drama. If it wasn't destroying people's lives like a meat grinder, it'd be a comedy.

Now I have to find a way to ditch these assholes before they ruin my life too.

My biggest mistake was not vetting companies enough when interviewing. Not catching big warning signs and thinking naively that I can work 60+ hour weeks for 1+ year with a significant amount dedicated to coding in tight deadlines - while I made most deadlines fine (the one I failed was due to no planning allocated to estimating the time to complete my team's work by product), it has seriously burnt me out & I've had to reduce my work time to ~35 hours a week (at least to no complaints)

I need to trust my instincts more & be more cautious with such big moves.

Not planning for 2015. I didn't save money as I should have and now I'm spending an indefinite amount of time (minimum 3 months) starting in March with no income (due to attending a bootcamp). I didn't expect that I would be doing this and now I'm trying to survive on nothing so that I can have some breathing room for months while I'm learning and looking for a job.

It's some added stress that I don't need and I'm working as much overtime as I can now when instead I should be spending my time studying/preparing for this class.

And the apex seals in my RX-7's engine finally went and it needs a rebuild. :( That's probably not going to get done till at least next year, but now I'm regretting dumping so much money into this car.

I focused on building an awesome product for my client and ended up doing free work for them (on the assumption they'd get funding and be able to pay me).

Never happened, the client got an awesome product, some free work, and I had no new work lined up afterwards.

Currently in the middle of a cashflow crisis.

Sorry to hear that; that's a rough situation. I made a similar mistake in my early 20s and didn't get paid on a $20k contract right after it. I couldn't afford a lawyer to get myself paid. Those were hard times.

This seemed to happen a lot to designers but I've seen them start to take a much more ruthless/professional approach to their business.

I know this doesn't help your situation right now, but this video is some fantastic guidance going forward: "F* You, Pay Me!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkLVRt6c1U

I've watched this video, loved it.

Just to be clear here though, I said I wouldn't charge for that time, so it was a mistake on MY part.

I did get a great example for my portfolio though.

As long as you don't work on spec ever, we're cool. lol

my marriage :(

I honestly don't know what more I could have done. You can give 1000% and keep pushing forward, but if the other person isn't giving anything and keeps putting you two steps back, there really isn't any hope in salvaging.

That doesn't sound like something that was your fault. Sorry it didn't work out man :/

chin up friend, keep calm and carry on.

Ouch, that sounds bad. Stay positive, my man. Or lady. It's probably a zen thing to say but it is what it is and couldn't have happened any differently.

Remember to talk to your family and friends. If you simply need someone to talk to, just email me via my profile.

I quit odesk this year. For a significant part of the year I was out of work. In retrospect I could have made a smoother transition.

A couple of bad clients. Didn't listen to my gut feeling and worked with them. Sucked up months of my time first in working for them and then getting them to pay me. Lesson: upfront payment :) as a sign of good faith.

I think I did okay with friends and family which always a relief to know :)

Here's a handy guide I wrote for how to learn from your mistakes:

http://scottberkun.com/essays/44-how-to-learn-from-your-mist...

Thanks Scott. I liked this line a lot "Don’t equate making mistakes with being a mistake".

I started smoking... Trying to stop now.

Good idea. All power to you.

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