So last week started off rather rough. About three months back I helped a customer avoid a software restriction, by replacing a controller card inside his computer. All went well, the card did it’s job, so on I went. It turns out that card needed some extremely precise performance. The card I used didn’t have such performance, and the poor customer only figured this out after investing volumes of time into tests, and this performance may have affected his study! Thus I receive a “your oversight screwed me” email, which I totally deserved, and immediately ordered the right board to fix the problem. So, my beginning of last week was the trip to go install the new board, which included looking this customer in the eye and asking for his forgiveness, for my role in making his life that much harder than it needed to be.
The primary goal in this industry is to enable research to occur on a more capable level. Some might say that profit is the core motive. While this may be true for suits at the corporate level, it’s not true of the guys in the trenches, crawling around on the dirty floors of labs, cramming themselves into small imaging rooms, all to get a system up and working. The people who work in the field care about the technology, and being a small part of the impact that research can have upon daily life. I know that when I’m working on a project that has long term or immediate application towards cancer, or Parkinson’s, or heart disease, my performance may have an affect. The speed and result of that research could directly impact the ongoing pain and suffering of the victims of those maladies. While the stakes never seem that high sitting in front of a scope, or sitting in traffic to get to a lab, the truth of this fact does not escape me, or others who have similar roles, in those times of quiet reflection upon our choice of career path.
So, when you discover that a small decision has had a major negative impact, the realization that you’ve hurt others when meaning to help couldn’t bring you much lower.No one is perfect. No one is right 100% of the time, but it’s one thing to know you messed up, and it’s quite another to know your mistake hurt someone else. Alas, all you can do is fix the mistake, learn from the error and move forward.
Luckily, towards the end of last week, actually on Saturday, I received a call from a number that I knew had to be a lab. Most people don’t call on the weekends, so when I saw this number I knew something was up. Sure enough, one of my clients had a small software glitch that basically resulted in his system being unusable. This in turn was affecting whether a paper could get completed on time, or published at all! Luckily, I had a handle on a solution to the glitch, and after a few minutes on the phone we were able to get the system running. A simple decision to pick up the phone had resulted in a major positive impact on my client’s work. It was a great way to close the week.
One of the major reasons I love my career field is the singular performance measurement. This is the same reason I loved wrestling. In team sports you can perform at 110% of the required ability, and your team can still lose if others don’t pull their weight. On the other hand you might suck for a game, but your teammates might pull out a win in spite of your poor performance. In wrestling, you alone know when you do well. You either beat the other guy, or he beats you. There is no question as to your performance, or lack thereof. Shakespeare’s Polonius counesled his son “This above all: to thine own self be true.” Similarly, an old proverb reads, “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but consider yourself with sober judgement.”
Last week I was reminded that in this job, I don’t have the option of avoiding either piece of advice.
-Austin