I find that being overly defensive is common among young engineers who did well in school and/or excelled in their internships/first jobs. It was personally hard for me to go from feeling confident and smart to being surrounded by smarter people who can challenge you properly.
But eventually I embraced this and I grew much much faster as a result.
What I learned the most was to phrase things as nicely as possible. Challenges that feel mean can be hurtful even if the intentions are good. Phrasing things nicely while still challenging firmly was super important.
Thanks for sharing your experience, I can relate to that a lot. Some people are not lucky to get the feedback early on and the behavior sticks with them forever or at least a longer time.
In my case, I also had a blind side. I would get overly passionate about the topic and not "listen" but would want to only speak. Thereby, I would end up cutting folks. That can be very jarring on the receiving end.
I find that being overly defensive is common among young engineers who did well in school and/or excelled in their internships/first jobs. It was personally hard for me to go from feeling confident and smart to being surrounded by smarter people who can challenge you properly.
But eventually I embraced this and I grew much much faster as a result.
What I learned the most was to phrase things as nicely as possible. Challenges that feel mean can be hurtful even if the intentions are good. Phrasing things nicely while still challenging firmly was super important.
Thanks for sharing your experience, I can relate to that a lot. Some people are not lucky to get the feedback early on and the behavior sticks with them forever or at least a longer time.
In my case, I also had a blind side. I would get overly passionate about the topic and not "listen" but would want to only speak. Thereby, I would end up cutting folks. That can be very jarring on the receiving end.
Just reading about the accustation makes my blood boil :)
Great tips!
Thank you! Haha but it was true in my case.