Woodworking through the mind of an engineer
Woodworking has probably been one of the most important things to add during my career. I went from being and feeling like I knew how to do most everything to being forced into confronting the fact that just because I&#x27;m experienced, I don&#x27;t know everything. I make <i>so many</i> fucking mistakes when I&#x27;m woodworking that, when people ask about what I make in my woodshop, I just respond &quot;sawdust and mistakes, mostly&quot;.<p>I&#x27;m not comfortable not knowing what to do; I&#x27;ve been building on a really stellar foundation for so long that when I need to do something outside of that universe - not situated over that foundation - I tend to flounder, get frustrated, and feel like the dumbest man alive.<p>Woodworking made me confront the fact that while I may be really good at building scalable systems and high quality code, that doesn&#x27;t mean I&#x27;m the master at everything, and I&#x27;m *going* to find things I need to stretch to learn.  It&#x27;s made me get comfortable with making mistakes again (well, as comfortable as I can be, I reckon).  It&#x27;s also made me comfortable with realizing when I&#x27;m hitting my patience limit and walking away instead of banging my head against the wall for hours.  A bit of distance, let my subconscious chew on it for a while, and revisit it later, rather than just trying to put my head down and shove my way through.<p>Long story short, you should all pick up woodworking, or metal working, or throw some pottery or paint or something.  Get comfortable with being a rank amateur fuckup and revel in the process of <i>learning</i> instead of <i>fabricating</i> without a hitch. I know that I, for one, really needed it.