Hello,

Y'all have been waiting for my first mistake since right 😅, at last I've made a mistake, a very terrible one.

Remember what I said from my last post about "being desperate enough", we'll I was and I ran with it, but on the way I messed up.

Now You are Me.

What Did You Do?

You applied for a laptop giveaway hosted by Edustipend - which is good.

In an attempt to stand out, you decided to go the extra mile - which is commendable.

You linked projects that you had done or at least contributed to - and that's where you messed up, stay with me!

Mess Up! How?

You messed up in several ways

• You weren't the only one who contributed to some of those projects, should everyone who contributed make such claims?.

• Your contributions were not significant enough to make such claims as you didn't provide any code only ideas.

• Most importantly, you lied.

Geez! You Really Messed up. How Did The Owners React?

The owners weren't happy at all, they called you out publicly, scolding you severely.

Nevertheless, some of their claims were not valid either - after all, isn't an idea a contribution?.

You still talked, dropped your final message to them and then went offline.

That Was Not The Right Approach, You Were At Fault!

Yes you were.

Someone said, "we know this already, mess up, apologize, get away with it".

You still apologized.

There were two ways to look at this incident and only few assessed it properly.

Look At A Different Angle: The Scenarios

Scenario One

The basic tenets to Scenario One are:

• You are at fault for not seeking their permission first.

• Should everyone who contributed make a claim?

• Your contributions were the most insignificant.

All of which are valid points.

Scenario Two

The basic tenets of Scenario Two are:

• Every contribution matters.

• Contributions must not be in code, an idea is equally worth.

• Providing feedback or being among the first users of something is a contribution.

• Inviting people to try out something is a contribution.

Your fault in this scenario was that you didn't explain what you meant by "contributed" properly and that made people assume you were an integral part of the equation of which you weren't.

How Did You Fix Up?

I'll explain more on this in a later post. At a glance, you fixed up by,

• Taking down the tweet.

• Apologizing.

Some still felt that you've ruined your reputation and trust, and that's true.

But your first post stated that "people have a wrong impression of me, they think I'm as mature as I sound".

A damaged reputation is an avenue to build a new one. And that's exactly what you'll do.

You'll host a Google Meet were everyone is invited, and the meeting would be aimed at breaking any wrong impression of you and being the most truthful you've ever been.

That's why you caption the Meet "The Most Truthful Me: Spilling the beans".

Everyone is invited, I'll share link to the Meet later, watch out for this blog.

Conclusion!

I'm sure you've drawn your conclusion already, but let me outline the key points for you.

• Don't plagiarize.

• Give credit when due.

• Always ask for permission to use someone else's work.

• Take a look at situations from a different angle.

• Never play with your reputation.

• Don't jeopardize the trust people have in you.

• If you do, rectify it as soon as possible.

And that's that 😊. I hope you enjoyed this article.

Stay tuned for our next mistake 😅, and make sure you attend the Meet.