That's true, and it definitely can be! In my opinion, the best way to approach this situation is with "non-violent communication"[0] in mind. Don't make the c

That's true, and it definitely can be! In my opinion, the best way to approach this situation is with "non-violent communication"[0] in mind. Don't make the conversation about "this is your fault, do better", instead make it about "I noticed a bug in my code that could have broken production and I think we can do better". It takes trust to pull off conversations like these without coming across as a prick. This type of empathy is particularly important when mentoring others because... People are always going to make mistakes. They create great opportunities to help somebody learn though. When I am being taught something, I learn much more quickly when somebody points to somewhere I failed versus explaining an "abstract" bad pattern. Maybe having the "abstract" idea first helps. It might make the "failure" easier to stomach later. For me though, those moments of stumbling always stuck as lessons I reflect back on the most. My attention to detail with code became a lot higher when I was on-call and prod broke at 4am because of a bug I let slip! 0: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication#Four_components https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonviolent_Communication#Four_...