大学生第一份工作最常犯的错误

    乐天投资（Rakuten Ventures）主理合伙人Sae Min Ahn的回答

    我认为，以下这些错误并非软件工程师的专利，所有满怀希望，刚步入职场的年轻人都很容易犯这些错误。

    爱公司多过爱工作：这或许是我犯下的最大的错误之一。我当时坚信，只要我进入那家我心仪已久的公司，最终就一定能找到适合自己的岗位。更痛苦地是，我还放弃了另外一家公司提供的一份好工作，只是因为我喜欢当时那家雇主的品牌。

    相信上司知道所有问题的答案，并且总能提供正确的指导：这是我得到的最残酷、最令人失望的一条教训，但很快我意识到这也是最宝贵的教训。有一位上司深得我的信任，我对她深信不疑。不论她告诉我什么，我都奉若圭臬，认为她的话绝对可靠。结果证明，她与我一样愚蠢，在面临混乱或棘手的难题时，她甚至会出现精神虐待倾向。

    坚信应该持有黑白分明的商业立场：曾几何时，受大量韩国公司的影响，这真的是一个问题，但愿它现在已不复存在。他们会向刚毕业的学生灌输这样一种思想：竞争对手是“敌人”，甚至不理性地将他们描绘成“邪恶的”一方。这种做法确实能获得短期的忠诚，但就我所知，许多人养成了一种坏习惯，他们在情感上投入太多时间去“憎恨”竞争对手，而没有充分考虑大局。

    相信在工作首日，自己就开始做“很酷的事情”：这是我一生中非常可笑的一段时间，因为我当时认为自己可以挑战整个世界，可以让公司的收入曲线显著上升。我很快就意识到，自己掌握的技能几乎为零，必须学习如何规划、安排优先事项和执行。每走出一步就像拔牙一样痛苦，但那又如何，我已经走到这一步了，不是吗？

    雅虎（Yahoo）软件工程师Allen Wu的回答

    我记得毕业后从事第一份软件工程师工作时曾经犯下两个错误。但愿我的经历能够鼓励刚毕业的大学生们更谨慎地避免这些常见错误。

    第一个错误是，严重低估完成一项功能所需要的时间。业务要求规定，功能在技术上不能太过复杂，而且要易于操作。最终结果是，跨团队协作、对其他人的依赖性，以及不断更新的要求，占用了大部分时间。而不断更新的要求常常导致许多重复的开发工作。软件工程领域有一句格言是这样说的：90%的工作会用去90%的时间，剩余10%的工作还需要90%的时间，最终结果是，开发时间将是预估时间的180%。即便在软件开发行业积累了一些经验之后，我依然很难准确估算一项任务的开发时间，尽管现在的情况有所好转。

    Answer by Sae Min Ahn, managing partner at Rakuten Ventures

    This is not specifically for software engineers but I believe this applies for the many young hopefuls walking into their first company.

    Falling more in love with the company than the job:Probably one of the biggest mistakes I made. I truly believed that if I got into the company I wanted, I would eventually find the role that was right for me. What was more painful was that I gave up an amazing role in a different company because I liked the branding of my-then-employer

    Believing that my manager had all the answers and provided consistently right guidance: One of the hardest and disappointing lessons I had to learn but soon came to realize was the most valuable. I had a manager that I truly trusted and believed in. Whatever she told me I believed was canon and infallible. It turned out she was just as clueless as I was and had a tenancy for emotional abuse when things got hectic or too hot to handle

    Believing that having a black and white viewpoint on business execution was the right path: This was actually an issue – I hope it isn’t anymore – with a lot of the Korean companies at the time. They try to indoctrinate the new grad into thinking that their competitor is “the enemy” or even portray them as “evil” in an irrational mantra. I’m sure it was to gain short-term loyalty, but for a lot of people I know, they picked up a really bad habit of emotionally expending too much time “hating” on their rivals and not thinking enough about the bigger picture of things

    Believing that I would start doing “cool stuff” day one of my job: This was a funny time in my life as I thought I could take on the world and make the company revenue chart hit a neck-breaking hockey stick vector. I soon came to realize I had little applicable skills and had to really learn how to plan, prioritize and execute. Each step was like pulling a tooth but hey, I’m here aren’t I?

    Answer by Allen Wu, software engineer at Yahoo

    Two mistakes I made during my first job in software engineering as a new grad come to mind. Hopefully reading about my experiences will encourage new college grads to be more cognizant of these common mistakes.

    The first was grossly underestimating how long it would take to complete a feature. The business requirements suggested that the feature was not very technically complex and would be straightforward to implement. What ended up being responsible for the bulk of the time was cross team collaboration, dependencies on others, and evolving requirements, which led to many iterations of development. There’s an aphorism in software engineering that says that 90% of the work takes 90% of the estimated time, and the remaining 10% of work takes another 90% of time, resulting in a total development time of 180% of the original estimate. Even after some experience in software development, it is still really difficult for me to accurately estimate the development time of a task (see Jan Christian Meyer’s answer to Software Engineering: What is the hardest thing you do as a software engineer?), though it’s getting better.