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1. Seeing my boss just completely side step an issue, where his switch was sending vlan tags to his carrier causing the carrier to shut down the port, by purchasing a switch that didnt support vlan tagging. I died on the inside but lesson about end user troubleshooting learned. 2. Being able to break into a 24 hour data centre because the data centres building management just didnt give a shit. Turns out they had fired all their staff and were leaving the DC empty until they liquidated. We managed to get our kit and bail. But like physical security provided by a third party is ephemeral. 3. I used to lock my bike to my tool shelf. A thief came along and used my hacksaw from my toolshelf to break my bike lock and steal my bike. Thieves will use anything available, not just what I want them to use. 4. Had 2 console windows open. First to a Junos device on my desk. Second to a Junos core router. I reloaded one, and didnt realise I had reloaded the wrong one until we lost an entire state. Multitasking invites risk. 5. Customer had a huge failure. …

Original discussionAsk HN: What was your most humbling learning moment?680 source comments · at import
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I've worked on large products for large and small companies and written tens of thousands of lines of code across my career, solving complex, abstract, challenging technical problems in a variety of languages on a variety of platforms, sometimes under difficult conditions. I have often been a resource for my friends and co-workers when they have programming or technical questions. I only recently learned how to correctly raise and lower window blinds--I had been doing it wrong my entire life. It was maybe the dumbest I have ever felt, and was a humbling reminder of how much I don't know about how much I don't know. Have you had similar experiences?

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> 3. I used to lock my bike to my tool shelf. A thief came along and used my hacksaw from my toolshelf You locked your bike to a toolshelf that contained the tool they used to steal the bike? That would be like putting jewelry behind a glass cabinet and putting a hammer next to it.

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PR

Oh and one more. My customer was a mid sized ISP. They contracted us in to replace a network engineer who was leaving who they couldnt replace. He wouldnt say anything about why he was leaving, other than he wanted to spend time with his newborn. Fair enough. Soon after the entire C level resigned. The new C level execs immediately went wtf. The business had: 1. Sold to an investor, the former owners becoming the C level. 2. Had an agreement that they would stay on for x years and deliver xyz revenue before they got paid for the business. 3. They had been selling services with massive install fees, and then not delivering those projects. Sales in this manner had kept the book completely green. What they had delivered didnt meet spec. They just massaged relationships to pretend it didnt happen. They also opposed any kind of internal documentation of these problems. 4. They had 15 or so of…

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