Answer by Sae Min Ahn, managing partner at Rakuten Ventures
乐天投资（Rakuten Ventures）主理合伙人Sae Min Ahn的回答
This is not specifically for software engineers but I believe this applies for the many young hopefuls walking into their first company.
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。
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
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。

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
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。
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
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。
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?
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？
Answer by Allen Wu, software engineer at Yahoo
雅虎（Yahoo）软件工程师Allen Wu的回答
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.
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。
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.
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。
The second was not asking for help when I should have. I was stuck on a bug I discovered for a feature that I was trying to implement. Trying to uncover the root cause of the bug was like opening a can of worms – related problems started popping up everywhere. Instead of properly escalating the issues to increase their visibility to get more resources or asking for help, I spent many cycles trying to find solutions, which was an exercise in futility. My manager at the time noted that a common mistake made by junior developers is to “disappear” to work on their tasks for extended periods of time, and reappear when they’re finished. When I realized that unexpected problems are expected, and a manager’s job is to have visibility and enable a team to operate at optimal velocity, I was able to improve on this.
第二个错误是没有在必要的时候寻求帮助。正打算执行的一项功能的时候，我发现了一个漏洞，并深陷其中。要找出导致漏洞的根本原因，无异于自找麻烦——突然之间，相关问题开始不断出现。我没有恰当地提升这些问题的严重性以提高其可见性，并由此获得更多资源或寻求帮助，而是一遍遍地试图找出解决方案，结果徒劳无功。我当时的上司表示，初级开发人员最常犯的错误，是会“消失”很长一段时间，忙于自己的项目，等到项目完成之后才会再次出现。当我意识到应该料想到意外问题总会出现，管理者的职责就是发现问题，使整个团队按最佳速度运行，我在这方面得到了提升。
Answer by Jason Ewing
贾森•尤因的回答
Be more loyal to your company than the company is to you. I’ve managed too many teams that have entry level employees and I see this too often. You like your first company, they gave you your first real shot! You should be loyal, right?
你对公司的忠诚度要高于公司对你的忠诚度。我管理过许多有初级员工的团队，见过太多这样的情况。你喜欢自己的第一家公司，它也给了你第一次真正的机会！你应该对它忠诚，不是吗？
Wrong. People stay in an entry level position for too long believing their employer will “take care of them” if they just work hard enough, stick around long enough….
这是错误的观点。有些人停留在入门级岗位太长时间，因为他们认为，只要他们努力工作，坚持的时间足够长，他们的雇主就会“照顾他们”……
Over time, this grinds a person down. I love that people believe that if you just work hard and do well your talents will be recognized and you’ll be promoted, but the truth is this isn’t always the way things work. Companies both large and small have to have a position to promote you to, a budget to pay you more, etc etc….
随着时间的推移，这种想法会压垮一个人。我也希望人们都相信，只要努力做好工作，你的才能就会得到认可，你就会平步青云，但真实情况是，付出的努力不见得一定能得到回报。不论大公司还是小公司，必须有职位空缺才能给员工升职，或者有预算才能给员工加薪。
Once you’ve been at your first job for a bit, begin engaging your manager about what your options are for developing your career. If you start to get the sense that no one ever gets promoted, or that options for advancement are limited, then change gears: Learn what you can where you are and take that experience somewhere else.
从事第一份工作一段时间之后，要开始向上司请教自己的职业发展有哪些选择。如果你感觉没有人会得到升职，或者提升的选择有限，不妨改变方法：在这里尽可能学习新知识，然后带着自己的经验另谋高就。
Answer by Carson Tang
卡尔森•唐的回答
Ignore the bad habits of your older colleagues - Your colleague who has been working for at least 10 years might be late to meetings often, but that does not imply that it is acceptable to be late. When an older colleague is late, your manager might cut her more slack because she has proven herself to be helpful and employable whereas if you are late, you simply look irresponsible and unemployable.
避免老员工的坏习惯——在公司工作了至少十年的同事，可能经常开会迟到，但这并不意味着迟到是可以接受的。如果有老员工迟到，你的上司可能会放她一马，因为她证明自己对公司有帮助，符合雇主的要求。但如果你迟到，只会让你看起来不负责任，并被列入不宜雇佣的员工之列。
Seek guidance and help proactively - In school, your professors and teaching assistants often provide hints and guidance on homework and lab assignments without you prompting them. At work, everyone is busy with his or her own tasks, so do not be surprised if no one offers help. It is not necessarily that they are unfriendly and selfish so much as they are just plain busy. The ones that offer unsolicited help are generally friendly people, so those are the ones with whom you want to be on extra good terms.
主动寻求指导和帮助——在学校里，即便你没有主动提出，你的教授和助教也会经常为你的家庭作业和实验室任务提供提示和指导。但在工作中，所有人都忙于自己的任务，所以，如果没有人主动提供帮助，不要感到惊讶。这并不意味着他们不友好或者自私，只是因为他们非常繁忙。主动向你提供帮助的人，往往都非常友好，所以有必要与他们搞好关系。
Be the expert of your assigned task - Even if you are assigned a menial task like fixing minor bugs, swallow your pride, fix those bugs, and understand how you fixed them. If you are assigned a major task, the same underlying principles apply. In software engineering, you are the expert of the part of the codebase you modified and extended, so if your colleagues have questions, they expect you to have the answers. Being the expert achieves two goals. First, your colleagues will think of you as a responsible person, and second, your manager will eventually notice and assign you more meaningful tasks or place you on more challenging and more impactful projects.
对分配给自己的任务，要做到精益求精——即便你被安排了一项没有意义的工作，比如修补较小的漏洞，也要放下自己的骄傲，完成任务，并弄清楚如何修补。如果你被安排负责一项重大任务，也要遵循同样的原则。在软件工程领域，对于由你修改和扩展的那部分代码库，你是专家，因此，如果你的同事遇到问题，他们会希望由你来提供答案。成为专家可以实现两个目的。首先，同事会认为你是一个负责任的人，其次，你的上司最终会注意到你，并给你安排更有意义的工作，或者让你参与更具挑战性、更有影响力的项目。
Be on good terms with everyone - In school, if you disliked someone, you could ignore him. At work, if you dislike a colleague, you cannot simply ignore him because you will be working together. Instead, be friendly and cordial. If that person is at all a professional, even if he dislikes you personally, he will respect you professionally.
与所有人搞好关系——在校园里，如果你不喜欢某个人，可以对他不理不睬。但在工作中，如果你不喜欢一位同事，不能简单地对他视而不见，因为你们要在一起工作。相反，要做到友好真诚。如果对方是专业人士，即便他个人不喜欢你，也会在职业上尊重你。
Value quality over quantity - If you can, try to work as quickly as possible, but do not sacrifice the quality of your work for the sake of more output. Your manager and colleagues will remember negatively the time you broke the software build with a code check-in, even if it was delivered a week ahead of time. However, they will remember fondly the success and quality of your polished and completed project, even if it took an extra week to wrap up.
重质量，轻数量——如果可以的话，尽可能快地完成工作，但不能为了更多产出而牺牲工作的质量。如果你用代码校验破坏了软件构造，即便提前一周交付，也会给上司和同事留下负面印象。相反，如果由你改进和完成的项目取得成功，并且保证了质量，即便多花了一周时间，也会给其他人留下积极印象。
Answer by Patrick Mathieson, VC Associate at Toba Capital
多巴资本（Toba Capital）风险投资合伙人帕特里克•马西森的回答
Believing that your first job is highly deterministic of the rest of your career.
相信第一份工作将在很大程度上决定你今后的职业生涯。
I remember being an undergrad and being surrounded by people absolutely pining over particular choice jobs. The prevailing attitude seemed to be that getting the Goldman Sachs GS gig would catapult them onto a trajectory of success that would last for their entire careers.
我记得在大学期间，周围的人都在憧憬着心仪的工作。当时流行的观点是，只要得到高盛（Goldman Sachs ）的临时工作，就等于坐上了成功的列车，意味着整个职业生涯都将取得成功。
Now that it’s been four years since my graduation, I’ve seen most of my friends change employers at least once, and many (including myself) have also switched industries. While some people loved their first jobs, some quickly found out that another occupation was more to their liking.
如今，在毕业四年之后，我看到大多数朋友至少更换过一次雇主，许多人（包括我在内）甚至更换了行业。虽然许多人热爱自己的第一份工作，但有人很快便发现，自己更喜欢另外一个职业。
Picking a job or employer is important, no doubt. And certain jobs can lead to relationships that DO determine the rest of your career. But to assume that your first job will inexorably lead to one particular brand of career or lifestyle, or that changing your mind or making a mistake in job selection is catastrophic, is the wrong attitude.
毫无疑问，选择工作或雇主非常重要。某些工作会积累一定的人脉，这确实会决定以后的职业发展。但认为自己的第一份工作会不可阻挡地带来特定的职业品牌或生活方式，或者认为在选择工作时改变主意或犯错将是灾难性的，都是错误的观点。
Often our first jobs are most useful in teaching us what we DON’T want to do for a living.
我们的第一份工作最大的用处，往往是让我们知道，自己不希望从事什么样的工作来谋生。
Answer by Jeff Rogers, Director of Engineering at Angie’s List
消费者点评网Angie’s List工程部总监杰夫•罗杰斯的回答
In some pockets, especially tech, it’s ok (and weirdly prideful) to ignore emails, blow off meetings, etc…
在某些行业，尤其是在科技行业，忽视电子邮件，推掉会议等，是可以接受的（甚至有人会引以为豪）……
But you’re not the next Internet billionaire yet. Someone took the time to write you an email. You should extend them the courtesy of replying as quickly as you can. Or, you know, walking over and talking to them (if possible). If you don’t know the answer, or need more time, just say so. Don’t let it sit in your inbox for days/weeks. I impose a “24-hour” rule on my own mailbox.
但你还不是下一个互联网亿万富翁。有人花了时间给你写电子邮件。你应该尽快回复，这是礼节问题。或者，你可以直接走过去与他们面对面交流（如果可行的话）。如果你不知道答案，或者需要更多时间，直接告诉对方。不要让邮件躺在你的收件箱里数天/数周。我给自己的邮箱设置了“24”小时规则。
Show up to meetings on time. Someone thought your opinion on a topic might be interesting, so you should take that as a compliment. You owe it to them to attend and pay attention. Don’t stare at your phone or laptop, unless necessary. Sometimes things pop up that require your focus to shift to an urgent issue. If that happens, apologize or excuse yourself.
参加会议要准时。有人认为你对某个话题的观点很有趣，你应该将此作为褒奖。为了感谢他们，你理应出席会议并且保持专注。不要盯着自己的手机或笔记本电脑，除非确实有必要。有时候，确实会突然发生某些事情，需要你将注意力转移到紧急问题上。此时，要表示歉意或请求离开。
“I don’t know” is a perfectly fine answer. (As long as “…but I will find out” quickly follows.)
“我不知道”是非常好的答案。（但后面应该紧跟着“……但我会找到答案”。）
This question originally appeared on Quora: What’s the most common mistakes new graduates make in their first job?
原问题见问答网站Quora：应届毕业生在第一份工作中最常犯哪些错误？