The other day I talked to a former colleague about what makes a good engineer in addition to technical and communication skills. The conversation centered around how people handle being wrong and making mistakes.
As humans, we are inherently flawed, and accepting our mistakes is the best course of action. When we make mistakes, we have the opportunity to learn and correct misunderstandings that could occur in the future. A good engineer, as well as any person, acknowledges this and handles it gracefully.
It’s like my grandmother used to say “The moment you stop making mistakes and stop learning is the same moment you stop breathing.”