📞 Calling the Senior Engineer

Friday, 4:52 PM

You dial Sarah's number. It rings. And rings. And—

Sarah: "Hey, what's up? I'm at my kid's soccer game."

You hear children screaming in the background. You feel terrible. But also, production is down.

You: "Sarah, I'm so sorry. Production is down. The deployment failed and I don't know what to do."

There's a pause. You can hear her thinking.

Sarah: "Okay. Walk me through what happened. What's the error?"

🎯 Admit your mistake and explain clearly

Be honest. You deployed without checking staging. Explain the error. Ask for help.

"Alex broke the config. I'm just trying to fix their mess." Throw them under the bus.

---

Time elapsed: 5 minutes

How you handle this moment defines your career.