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All seniors from corp firms - please provide kind and helpful advice for A0s starting out in 2025 - is it really okay to fuck up in the first few weeks? Have seen differing opinions on this but have messed up once or twice myself and now not sure if seniors in the team are hiding their opinion of whether my career is doomed or not đź«Ą
Please advise!!
When I was an A0, I once deleted a folder from the shared drive by mistake. It had working files for an ongoing deal. The team had to scramble to recover things, and I was genuinely scared I was going to get fired. I felt terrible. But the senior just said, “These things happen. Just be more careful,” and we moved on. You’re going to mess up. That’s part of the job, especially early on. Nobody expects you to know everything. What matters is how you bounce back, whether you’re learning, and if you’re reliable over time.
Don’t read too much into how quiet people are. Most seniors have seen these mistakes before. They’ll only be concerned if you stop trying or keep repeating things without learning.
So no, your career isn’t doomed. You’re just new. Give yourself time. It gets better.
You have made me a little less stressed as I settle into a strange city and a strange job!
Crap happens. Unless your senior is an absolutely narcissistic POS, they will just ask you to not do it again.
But firing is not going to happen. At all.