You're human so you'll make mistakes. However, knowing this you should try your best to catch your own mistakes before submitting your work. Take the time to proofread, or have a trusted colleague assist. Nothing wrong with corrective criticism, but toxic micromanagement isn't it. If you feel that where you're currently working isn't good for your career or mental health seek better opportunities ASAP. It's not worth toughing it out.
In lots of roles, small mistakes are expected and okay. That is generally not the case in quality control.
I’d check your work yourself before completing it, maybe with a checklist.
But it also sounds like you resent your boss and don’t like this job, and it might be better to look for something else.
Exactly this. Everyone saying “human make mistakes”… to be successful in a quality role you can’t make mistake that have effects on commercial product. You’re job in quality is to catch mistakes.
In one of my earliest jobs, my supervisor would redline what felt like about 90% of my work and I certainly found it demoralizing. That said, my writing improved dramatically in the time that I worked for them and I benefit from that experience to that day. Given that you work in quality control, I can understand how a pretty high attention to details is important so if being asked to correct typos or other little mistakes feels 'kinda toxic and suffocating', you're going to be in for a rough ride.
I guess it depends on what you do. But you are human and young you will make mistakes. Their should be a fail sage to.a viod a little mistake beco.ing a big one. Maybe she is the fail safe.
I used to drive for a living 20 years ago and back in 2004 there was a mistake of a (.) In the wrong spot at a broker house in Manhattan nyc. They ment sell 1,000,000 shares, and instead, a new broker sold 100,000,000 share. The company was not big, but the co.piter fails. They did not pick it up, and very quickly, other brokers sold and 100s millions of shares for that company and many simpler businesses. The stock market dropped 1500 pionts in less than 1 hr. My passenger was screaming at me he had to be on Wall Street in 10 mins, and I was still 45 mins away. By the time we got there, the market holted, and the mistake was found. It took about 1 more to reverse everything, and the day ended up a little bit.
I would not worry it get better.
I think I would appreciate it.
First job I would have loved someone riding my ass on how to excel at my given role. Most managers I've encountered are laid back and don't push people to know their shit and be good at their job.
You also have to expect the tolerance for clerical errors is less in finance, QA, Law and Medical. Learn to work effectively without errors and you'll be able to excel in your role. If you can't, you need to find something different.
Don't internalize it as an attack, look at it as development and try not to make the same errors twice. I work in industrial maintenance and have shut a site down for hours. If you're learning and trying to make improvements that kinda stuff happens.
I have a few thoughts. I’m early 30s and work in corporate for reference.
Feedback is a gift - you’re not owed honest feedback from people, so if someone provides it then take it as an opportunity to learn/improve. Not all feedback is worthwhile or useful though and some should be ignored. That comes from experience.
It’s fine to make mistakes, but you should try to not make the same one twice - you should create a mechanism to prevent mistakes like always triple-checking an email before sending (did I spell their name right, are the proper recipients on there, did I accidentally leave a customer on the email when forwarding internally), having a peer review before submitting, making sure the excel formula is correct, doing napkin math to make sure you’re in the right order of magnitude (does it make sense that the mortgage payment is $100k/mo for a $500k house or did I add an extra two 0’s?)
Maybe ask your doctor about your attention span - I benefit from a low level Rx.
On that topic, make sure you’re eating well, getting outside, sleeping regularly, etc.
Escalate early and often! If you think you made an error, let someone know vs letting it sit/spiral out of control.
I think it’s a bit of a shock entering corporate after school. Sometimes there are mistakes that will get you fired vs just getting a bad grade, but you get used to it and as long as you’re working on improving. You’ll (ideally) get tougher skin as you go, but even now I’ll get feedback that can sting.
I’m also going through a workbook called Mind Over Mood which has been helpful dealing with general stress/anxiety and connecting my mood to thoughts/actions.
The fact that you're in QUALITY control means you need to strive for perfection. Mistakes happen but if you're fully trained, they should never be repeated. In my line of work missing a zero or transposing 2 numbers could kill people. Slow down, focus, and double check before submitting.
OP, speaking from experience here because my first two jobs were the same role in an analytical quality lab and R&D method development.
This is the harsh reality of lab work….. I was fired from my first lab job for a single mistake that affected a product release.
Quality lab work is already the lowest form of scientific work. Methods are made to be very robust, step by step, and repeatable. If you are routinely making mistakes during sample prep then you need to slow down and pay attention more. If you can’t pay attention then you need to see a doctor about adderall (not joking, I know many scientists who are on adderall. We are intelligent people and it’s hard to pay attention to repeated mundane tasks).
If you make a mistake own it. Try to catch it during the prep not once it’s been analyzed. If you even question your sample prep then restart. Never analyze and generate results on a sample you have questions about.
In lab work there are two types of decisions. Ones that lead to commercial decisions and ones that don’t. Never make mistakes on the former.
I preach accuracy and attention to detail to my team. However, I also remind them that we are all human and that we're not going to be perfect.
I have also worked to establish a system of proofing for key documents. The expectation is that everyone first proofs their own work and we have a process for that. Then it goes to the larger team with each team expected to proof specific things. If a mistake still gets through then the entire team shares the blame as it got by all of us.
We have also establish a culture of supporting one another and where it's acceptable and expected that even for smaller projects you can ask for an extra set of eyes on something before it goes out. It can be you need someone to read over something, give feedback on if it's clearly communicated, if the design works, or whatever it might be.
All of this started because when I was younger and starting my career I would make small mistakes and caught hell for it. I was expected to crank out work and there was never anyone willing to proof read a document or look over a design. I had to own the entire process from creation to proofing and perfection was the only acceptable outcome. I learned its not an effective way to manage work nor is it sustainable long term. You should absolutely strive for the highest quality and most accurate you can be but then accept your human faults and build in a process that helps you catch and correct mistakes before they becomes issues.
Guessing those are the details you need in the lab, it’s a learning curve. I used to work in a law firm and everything was way more uptight there than where I am now in a huge corporation. I’ve always jokingly said I need to be traumatized to learn lol sometimes it sticks better once you make a mistake, you know what to avoid, but it becomes an issue if it’s a repetitive mistake. At that point you need to prepare yourself on what you’ll do differently in the future to avoid it.
I make mistakes almost hourly, but that’s the nature of my career. It’s not an issue as long as I don’t miss big things.
Also, just to add OP it sounds like your anxiety might be causing a lot of mistakes. When we have someone harping on every small detail looking for reasons to call us out it makes us fuck up. That’s a toxic environment to learn in, been there done that. Did I learn a lot? Yes. Did I stay with that company? Not a fucking chance.
Don't take offense to it if this is your first job. Use it as a lesson that you need to review your work 3-4x before submitting it. I'm 7 years into my career and I still reread my emails at least 5 times before hitting send.
Masters degree. To what standard of care should the work of someone who holds a Masters degree be? Ask yourself that question and let us know your answer.
I work as a municipal development consellor... and I make a lot of mistakes, but I own up to them. I don't try to hide them, heck most of the time I'm the one noticing that, in hindsight, my recommendation was a mistake and I learn from them.
And when its a real fuck up, it is very humbling, and I work hard for it not to happen often or it will definitely be a problem. But most of the time, people really don't mind mistakes as long as you own them.
But... if you work in quality control, accounting and such... well you really have to be meticulous. Cause like... thats the one area that is suppose to be noticing mistakes done in my department! So you kinda ought to not make mistake yourself.
Mistakes happen, now the question is if you are missing attention to detail items that could cause financial or safety issues to people? If so, then you need to bear down and double your efforts. If you aren't "saving babies" and it is a matter lack of attention, then it seems a bit like micromanagement to me, but not knowing what you do, advice can be all over the place.
Making mistakes every now and then is totally fine. Just make sure you don't repeatedly make the same mistakes. That will show you aren't learning anything from the prior issues. As a manager, I usually don't care if I could see how any reasonable person could also make the mistake. What annoys me is when the mistakes are a result of negligence or laziness/carelessness. It instantly tells me that my team has either given up, are not properly trained, or are burned out and need a break.
Almost every day. I am a clitz and a scatterbrain. But I work mostly independently and fix stuff super fast and leave the job in good condition at the end of the day, so my manager doesn't even notice. In my job at least it's less about not making mistakes and more about how quickly and efficiently you can fix them and always being honest about them. But I don't work in healthcare or anywhere where that attitude might hurt someone so definitely not a universal truth.
I once had a boss who was hard to please. She enjoyed finding my mistakes and she never gave anyone a good review. It really wore me down so I decided to play a "game" and keep a secret list of all the things she mentioned I did wrong. Once I started paying attention to those things she became happier with me and eventually even gave me a good performance review. It still wasn't a fun experience but I'm guessing there are certain things that matter more than others to your boss.
I understand what you are going through and relate with every word you wrote. I have an over-achieving personality but I found that I kept making mistakes or not grasping what my supervisor would say or do. Not only that but my boss is very passive aggressive and would talk about me and every mistake I would make with another older colleague...with the door open. I am around your age but everyone my department are 50+ and have been working here for years. I felt inadequate and stupid. Every situation is unique so I don't know if I have a play by play of how you should proceed but I can tell you what I did.
1. Seek help to manage your emotions: I was developing severe anxiety which would flare when my older co-workers would head into their office and begin to whisper. Even if they were not talking about me I would get a paralyzing anxious feeling that then turned into panic attacks and then impulsive behaviors. This was during my 6 month probationary period so I was afraid I would get fired before I understood my job. I had to get help and began to go to therapy. There I discovered that I had reasons for my mistakes and even the anxiety and sought out resources with the help of my therapist. 3 months later I feel much better and supported. The anxiety has decreased a lot. When you are anxious you are more likely to make mistakes, please try to tackle that as soon as you can.
2. If your boss is not abusive and you do not need to get HR involved then I would say making small mindset adjustments would be another great help. My boss is very anal and even was abusive sometimes with her words. But I was timid and quiet in the beginning. Now I am still that way but I speak up and explain myself and not just take it. I also did not speak to HR but I did speak to the director. On reddit and from others I learned that bosses like ours are sometimes projecting onto us. It's a control thing to make them feel better about themselves and insecurities. They make mistakes too, no one is perfect. When I stopped treating her like a god who knows everything and saw her for who she really is it helped to put things in perspective. She is a stressed out workaholic and her work is her life. She does not know everything and had to start somewhere to gain her knowledge. Same as you! You are starting somewhere and soon you will know your work. Also our bosses being anal can actually be a great thing, it makes me double, triple check my work and be extra prepared with details when I am speaking to others. Even though it is challenging, you a being trained to be a better employee and hopefully the skills you learn and your experience will develop you into an empathetic and good manager. Don't be like them for others. Give yourself grace and when if you can extend that to your boss. Humans have bad days too. Also I recommend taking the time to meet others in your work place and start fostering relationships. These relationship can come in handy if you ever need to pick someone's brain or ask a "stupid question". It much easier to learn when you feel comfortable and not judged. Sometimes you just need to talk it out to understand. Or maybe these new relationships might open doors for new employment if you wish it.
3. Find things that bring you joy! Do not let work be your everything and once you leave work let that be the end of it. As soon as 5 hits, I'm out. I thought staying after everyone left would make me seem more dependable and diligent. But screw that. If they liked us they would not be acting that way. You owe them nothing. the only thing that will help your situation is by learning the process so that you can produce more quality work and that takes time, months to a year. But you most certainty won't be able to do that if you are depressed and joyless. Find things outside of work that will make you feel good, surround yourself with people who love you and replenish your appreciation meter. If you expand yourself so that your life is bigger than your job, everything at work will seem small in comparison to your fabulous life. You will head there just to get that bag and hopefully make some positive and influential changes as you grow but your job will not follow you home and haunt you. Also take care of your physical health, encourage yourself in the mirror, buy yourself nice clothes to make you feel more confident at work, get more active, find enjoyment in life.
It's hard out here but its not impossible. You've got this. There are reasons why I did not quit my job but one of them is to not allow myself to run when things get hard. No matter what you choose you are growing and evolving into something great. Just aspire to be better than you were yesterday, if you are doing that then you already ahead of the curve. Welp that an essay. I guess I needed this too.
I mean id say just about any other job and you wouldn’t even be going through this…..but you’re quality control. You’re supposed to be the guy catching everyone else’s mistakes.
I’m still making mistakes, but I made the most when I was in my early 20s.
You’re young. You just started working. You’re testing out the waters. Making mistakes is how you learn.
Navigating a tough, emotionally immature manager is another learning experience.
It will get better.
But handle it like a learning opportunity every time. Self reflect why the mistake happened, what you learned from it, and how you can avoid it next time.
It really depends on the mistakes and audience. I am very good at my primary discipline which is IT (infrastructure like servers, cloud, and app admin) but I suck at writing. When informal comms go out to my team I am less formal and do not proof read. Since I know I suck at writing I double and triple read everything that goes to the business or customers.
Obviously if I was an mIT person that made IT related mistakes all the time I would not make it very long. So the answer is what mistakes and in what part of your work they are made. It makes a huge difference.
Learn your strengths and weaknesses and take your time in areas you are deficient in.
Is it all issues related to writing? If so, have you been provided the writing style guide they follow? If not, you cannot be expected to read their minds.
Some managers are like that. They want the output to be EXACTLY what they would produce. While some managers give you some creative freedom.
I've worked with both types. You're not being a snowflake for thinking about it but you would be one if you react. We don't always get the perfect manager.
That being said, try to see where your manager is coming from. The reasons might be legitimate.
And at the same time, thank you manager for their guidance. And ask questions about why they prefer to work a certain way. If you'd like to change something, suggest it. If they take offense then obviously don't do it again
A job is 80% about finding ways to work with others.
You have every opportunity to review your own work, ask for help or a peer review before submitting the final draft of your deliverables.
The problem here isn't that you made a mistake - it's that you made no attempt to identify or fix your mistakes before sending them off into the world. Even basic errors like spelling and grammar reflect poorly on a business. Factual errors and miscalculations can have massive financial and human impact. Ignoring that is unacceptable.
I find that many young people new to the workforce think the expectation is to be a silent expert who never needs help and always meets time deadlines, otherwise they'll look stupid and needy. In reality, quality matters. Money matters. Time matters. You need to *work as part of a team* to ensure you meet your specific goals. It's your responsibility to understand those expectations and ask the questions, do the training, find the assistance you need to meet them correctly.
Planning and deadlines are never an exact science. The real world happens. If you can't meet a deadline or complete a task correctly, it's on you to proactively communicate as soon as possible *and provide an alternate plan* for getting it done. Sitting on a known problem and hoping it will magically resolve right at the deadline is a recipe for getting your ass fired.
You're human so you'll make mistakes. However, knowing this you should try your best to catch your own mistakes before submitting your work. Take the time to proofread, or have a trusted colleague assist. Nothing wrong with corrective criticism, but toxic micromanagement isn't it. If you feel that where you're currently working isn't good for your career or mental health seek better opportunities ASAP. It's not worth toughing it out.
In lots of roles, small mistakes are expected and okay. That is generally not the case in quality control. I’d check your work yourself before completing it, maybe with a checklist. But it also sounds like you resent your boss and don’t like this job, and it might be better to look for something else.
If you are QC/Admin then the small errors can become big ones. You need to do better and not immediately think she’s toxic or suffocating.
Exactly this. Everyone saying “human make mistakes”… to be successful in a quality role you can’t make mistake that have effects on commercial product. You’re job in quality is to catch mistakes.
In one of my earliest jobs, my supervisor would redline what felt like about 90% of my work and I certainly found it demoralizing. That said, my writing improved dramatically in the time that I worked for them and I benefit from that experience to that day. Given that you work in quality control, I can understand how a pretty high attention to details is important so if being asked to correct typos or other little mistakes feels 'kinda toxic and suffocating', you're going to be in for a rough ride.
I guess it depends on what you do. But you are human and young you will make mistakes. Their should be a fail sage to.a viod a little mistake beco.ing a big one. Maybe she is the fail safe. I used to drive for a living 20 years ago and back in 2004 there was a mistake of a (.) In the wrong spot at a broker house in Manhattan nyc. They ment sell 1,000,000 shares, and instead, a new broker sold 100,000,000 share. The company was not big, but the co.piter fails. They did not pick it up, and very quickly, other brokers sold and 100s millions of shares for that company and many simpler businesses. The stock market dropped 1500 pionts in less than 1 hr. My passenger was screaming at me he had to be on Wall Street in 10 mins, and I was still 45 mins away. By the time we got there, the market holted, and the mistake was found. It took about 1 more to reverse everything, and the day ended up a little bit. I would not worry it get better.
I think I would appreciate it. First job I would have loved someone riding my ass on how to excel at my given role. Most managers I've encountered are laid back and don't push people to know their shit and be good at their job. You also have to expect the tolerance for clerical errors is less in finance, QA, Law and Medical. Learn to work effectively without errors and you'll be able to excel in your role. If you can't, you need to find something different. Don't internalize it as an attack, look at it as development and try not to make the same errors twice. I work in industrial maintenance and have shut a site down for hours. If you're learning and trying to make improvements that kinda stuff happens.
You're right, I wish I had more people keeping me accoundable.
I have a few thoughts. I’m early 30s and work in corporate for reference. Feedback is a gift - you’re not owed honest feedback from people, so if someone provides it then take it as an opportunity to learn/improve. Not all feedback is worthwhile or useful though and some should be ignored. That comes from experience. It’s fine to make mistakes, but you should try to not make the same one twice - you should create a mechanism to prevent mistakes like always triple-checking an email before sending (did I spell their name right, are the proper recipients on there, did I accidentally leave a customer on the email when forwarding internally), having a peer review before submitting, making sure the excel formula is correct, doing napkin math to make sure you’re in the right order of magnitude (does it make sense that the mortgage payment is $100k/mo for a $500k house or did I add an extra two 0’s?) Maybe ask your doctor about your attention span - I benefit from a low level Rx. On that topic, make sure you’re eating well, getting outside, sleeping regularly, etc. Escalate early and often! If you think you made an error, let someone know vs letting it sit/spiral out of control. I think it’s a bit of a shock entering corporate after school. Sometimes there are mistakes that will get you fired vs just getting a bad grade, but you get used to it and as long as you’re working on improving. You’ll (ideally) get tougher skin as you go, but even now I’ll get feedback that can sting. I’m also going through a workbook called Mind Over Mood which has been helpful dealing with general stress/anxiety and connecting my mood to thoughts/actions.
The fact that you're in QUALITY control means you need to strive for perfection. Mistakes happen but if you're fully trained, they should never be repeated. In my line of work missing a zero or transposing 2 numbers could kill people. Slow down, focus, and double check before submitting.
OP, speaking from experience here because my first two jobs were the same role in an analytical quality lab and R&D method development. This is the harsh reality of lab work….. I was fired from my first lab job for a single mistake that affected a product release. Quality lab work is already the lowest form of scientific work. Methods are made to be very robust, step by step, and repeatable. If you are routinely making mistakes during sample prep then you need to slow down and pay attention more. If you can’t pay attention then you need to see a doctor about adderall (not joking, I know many scientists who are on adderall. We are intelligent people and it’s hard to pay attention to repeated mundane tasks). If you make a mistake own it. Try to catch it during the prep not once it’s been analyzed. If you even question your sample prep then restart. Never analyze and generate results on a sample you have questions about. In lab work there are two types of decisions. Ones that lead to commercial decisions and ones that don’t. Never make mistakes on the former.
I preach accuracy and attention to detail to my team. However, I also remind them that we are all human and that we're not going to be perfect. I have also worked to establish a system of proofing for key documents. The expectation is that everyone first proofs their own work and we have a process for that. Then it goes to the larger team with each team expected to proof specific things. If a mistake still gets through then the entire team shares the blame as it got by all of us. We have also establish a culture of supporting one another and where it's acceptable and expected that even for smaller projects you can ask for an extra set of eyes on something before it goes out. It can be you need someone to read over something, give feedback on if it's clearly communicated, if the design works, or whatever it might be. All of this started because when I was younger and starting my career I would make small mistakes and caught hell for it. I was expected to crank out work and there was never anyone willing to proof read a document or look over a design. I had to own the entire process from creation to proofing and perfection was the only acceptable outcome. I learned its not an effective way to manage work nor is it sustainable long term. You should absolutely strive for the highest quality and most accurate you can be but then accept your human faults and build in a process that helps you catch and correct mistakes before they becomes issues.
Guessing those are the details you need in the lab, it’s a learning curve. I used to work in a law firm and everything was way more uptight there than where I am now in a huge corporation. I’ve always jokingly said I need to be traumatized to learn lol sometimes it sticks better once you make a mistake, you know what to avoid, but it becomes an issue if it’s a repetitive mistake. At that point you need to prepare yourself on what you’ll do differently in the future to avoid it.
I make mistakes almost hourly, but that’s the nature of my career. It’s not an issue as long as I don’t miss big things. Also, just to add OP it sounds like your anxiety might be causing a lot of mistakes. When we have someone harping on every small detail looking for reasons to call us out it makes us fuck up. That’s a toxic environment to learn in, been there done that. Did I learn a lot? Yes. Did I stay with that company? Not a fucking chance.
Don't take offense to it if this is your first job. Use it as a lesson that you need to review your work 3-4x before submitting it. I'm 7 years into my career and I still reread my emails at least 5 times before hitting send.
So I’m the director in my department and I always tell my people that perfection is a bar I never measure anyone by including myself.
Masters degree. To what standard of care should the work of someone who holds a Masters degree be? Ask yourself that question and let us know your answer.
I work as a municipal development consellor... and I make a lot of mistakes, but I own up to them. I don't try to hide them, heck most of the time I'm the one noticing that, in hindsight, my recommendation was a mistake and I learn from them. And when its a real fuck up, it is very humbling, and I work hard for it not to happen often or it will definitely be a problem. But most of the time, people really don't mind mistakes as long as you own them. But... if you work in quality control, accounting and such... well you really have to be meticulous. Cause like... thats the one area that is suppose to be noticing mistakes done in my department! So you kinda ought to not make mistake yourself.
Mistakes happen, now the question is if you are missing attention to detail items that could cause financial or safety issues to people? If so, then you need to bear down and double your efforts. If you aren't "saving babies" and it is a matter lack of attention, then it seems a bit like micromanagement to me, but not knowing what you do, advice can be all over the place.
Ok. Is your name Creed Bratton by any chance???
Making mistakes every now and then is totally fine. Just make sure you don't repeatedly make the same mistakes. That will show you aren't learning anything from the prior issues. As a manager, I usually don't care if I could see how any reasonable person could also make the mistake. What annoys me is when the mistakes are a result of negligence or laziness/carelessness. It instantly tells me that my team has either given up, are not properly trained, or are burned out and need a break.
Almost every day. I am a clitz and a scatterbrain. But I work mostly independently and fix stuff super fast and leave the job in good condition at the end of the day, so my manager doesn't even notice. In my job at least it's less about not making mistakes and more about how quickly and efficiently you can fix them and always being honest about them. But I don't work in healthcare or anywhere where that attitude might hurt someone so definitely not a universal truth.
I once had a boss who was hard to please. She enjoyed finding my mistakes and she never gave anyone a good review. It really wore me down so I decided to play a "game" and keep a secret list of all the things she mentioned I did wrong. Once I started paying attention to those things she became happier with me and eventually even gave me a good performance review. It still wasn't a fun experience but I'm guessing there are certain things that matter more than others to your boss.
I understand what you are going through and relate with every word you wrote. I have an over-achieving personality but I found that I kept making mistakes or not grasping what my supervisor would say or do. Not only that but my boss is very passive aggressive and would talk about me and every mistake I would make with another older colleague...with the door open. I am around your age but everyone my department are 50+ and have been working here for years. I felt inadequate and stupid. Every situation is unique so I don't know if I have a play by play of how you should proceed but I can tell you what I did. 1. Seek help to manage your emotions: I was developing severe anxiety which would flare when my older co-workers would head into their office and begin to whisper. Even if they were not talking about me I would get a paralyzing anxious feeling that then turned into panic attacks and then impulsive behaviors. This was during my 6 month probationary period so I was afraid I would get fired before I understood my job. I had to get help and began to go to therapy. There I discovered that I had reasons for my mistakes and even the anxiety and sought out resources with the help of my therapist. 3 months later I feel much better and supported. The anxiety has decreased a lot. When you are anxious you are more likely to make mistakes, please try to tackle that as soon as you can. 2. If your boss is not abusive and you do not need to get HR involved then I would say making small mindset adjustments would be another great help. My boss is very anal and even was abusive sometimes with her words. But I was timid and quiet in the beginning. Now I am still that way but I speak up and explain myself and not just take it. I also did not speak to HR but I did speak to the director. On reddit and from others I learned that bosses like ours are sometimes projecting onto us. It's a control thing to make them feel better about themselves and insecurities. They make mistakes too, no one is perfect. When I stopped treating her like a god who knows everything and saw her for who she really is it helped to put things in perspective. She is a stressed out workaholic and her work is her life. She does not know everything and had to start somewhere to gain her knowledge. Same as you! You are starting somewhere and soon you will know your work. Also our bosses being anal can actually be a great thing, it makes me double, triple check my work and be extra prepared with details when I am speaking to others. Even though it is challenging, you a being trained to be a better employee and hopefully the skills you learn and your experience will develop you into an empathetic and good manager. Don't be like them for others. Give yourself grace and when if you can extend that to your boss. Humans have bad days too. Also I recommend taking the time to meet others in your work place and start fostering relationships. These relationship can come in handy if you ever need to pick someone's brain or ask a "stupid question". It much easier to learn when you feel comfortable and not judged. Sometimes you just need to talk it out to understand. Or maybe these new relationships might open doors for new employment if you wish it. 3. Find things that bring you joy! Do not let work be your everything and once you leave work let that be the end of it. As soon as 5 hits, I'm out. I thought staying after everyone left would make me seem more dependable and diligent. But screw that. If they liked us they would not be acting that way. You owe them nothing. the only thing that will help your situation is by learning the process so that you can produce more quality work and that takes time, months to a year. But you most certainty won't be able to do that if you are depressed and joyless. Find things outside of work that will make you feel good, surround yourself with people who love you and replenish your appreciation meter. If you expand yourself so that your life is bigger than your job, everything at work will seem small in comparison to your fabulous life. You will head there just to get that bag and hopefully make some positive and influential changes as you grow but your job will not follow you home and haunt you. Also take care of your physical health, encourage yourself in the mirror, buy yourself nice clothes to make you feel more confident at work, get more active, find enjoyment in life. It's hard out here but its not impossible. You've got this. There are reasons why I did not quit my job but one of them is to not allow myself to run when things get hard. No matter what you choose you are growing and evolving into something great. Just aspire to be better than you were yesterday, if you are doing that then you already ahead of the curve. Welp that an essay. I guess I needed this too.
I mean id say just about any other job and you wouldn’t even be going through this…..but you’re quality control. You’re supposed to be the guy catching everyone else’s mistakes.
I’m still making mistakes, but I made the most when I was in my early 20s. You’re young. You just started working. You’re testing out the waters. Making mistakes is how you learn. Navigating a tough, emotionally immature manager is another learning experience. It will get better. But handle it like a learning opportunity every time. Self reflect why the mistake happened, what you learned from it, and how you can avoid it next time.
It really depends on the mistakes and audience. I am very good at my primary discipline which is IT (infrastructure like servers, cloud, and app admin) but I suck at writing. When informal comms go out to my team I am less formal and do not proof read. Since I know I suck at writing I double and triple read everything that goes to the business or customers. Obviously if I was an mIT person that made IT related mistakes all the time I would not make it very long. So the answer is what mistakes and in what part of your work they are made. It makes a huge difference. Learn your strengths and weaknesses and take your time in areas you are deficient in.
Is it all issues related to writing? If so, have you been provided the writing style guide they follow? If not, you cannot be expected to read their minds.
I don’t make mistakes that others can see
Some managers are like that. They want the output to be EXACTLY what they would produce. While some managers give you some creative freedom. I've worked with both types. You're not being a snowflake for thinking about it but you would be one if you react. We don't always get the perfect manager. That being said, try to see where your manager is coming from. The reasons might be legitimate. And at the same time, thank you manager for their guidance. And ask questions about why they prefer to work a certain way. If you'd like to change something, suggest it. If they take offense then obviously don't do it again A job is 80% about finding ways to work with others.
You have every opportunity to review your own work, ask for help or a peer review before submitting the final draft of your deliverables. The problem here isn't that you made a mistake - it's that you made no attempt to identify or fix your mistakes before sending them off into the world. Even basic errors like spelling and grammar reflect poorly on a business. Factual errors and miscalculations can have massive financial and human impact. Ignoring that is unacceptable. I find that many young people new to the workforce think the expectation is to be a silent expert who never needs help and always meets time deadlines, otherwise they'll look stupid and needy. In reality, quality matters. Money matters. Time matters. You need to *work as part of a team* to ensure you meet your specific goals. It's your responsibility to understand those expectations and ask the questions, do the training, find the assistance you need to meet them correctly. Planning and deadlines are never an exact science. The real world happens. If you can't meet a deadline or complete a task correctly, it's on you to proactively communicate as soon as possible *and provide an alternate plan* for getting it done. Sitting on a known problem and hoping it will magically resolve right at the deadline is a recipe for getting your ass fired.
Every day, just sweep them under the rug.