One of the biggest misconceptions about engineering is that experienced engineers know all the answers. In reality, experienced engineers have simply seen more ways that things can fail.
Where my growth actually came from
- Hardware that did not behave like the datasheet promised.
- Samples that were not representative of production.
- Production variation that was larger than anyone expected.
- Requirements that changed halfway through a project.
- The theoretically correct solution that was not practical.
These situations taught me far more than the projects that worked perfectly the first time.
The goal is not avoiding mistakes. The goal is learning faster than the problem changes.