Go treats errors as values returned explicitly from functions. There are no exceptions, no implicit control flow jumps, and no try/catch — every error must be handled or explicitly ignored at the call site.
In languages like Java or Python, exceptions can propagate invisibly up the call stack until caught. In Go, errors are plain values returned as a second return value. The caller must decide what to do — there are no surprise control flow jumps.
Error paths are explicit and visible in code — no hidden control flow
Errors are traceable: wrapping with %w preserves the chain for errors.Is/As
Encourages thinking about failure modes at every call site
Trade-off: more boilerplate — the if err != nil pattern is repetitive
No checked vs unchecked exception distinction — all errors are the same type
0-2 years experience
2-5 years experience
5-8 years experience
8+ years experience
