Ignore me, am just a part of the furniture

There are a number of ways of being professionally successful in IT. The most important of which is "taking responsibility" aka "take the blame", "bear the brunt" OR "the buck stops at you". The most obvious way of taking responsibility is owning someone else's fault, good if it is your peers', better if it is your boss's. Don't just own the fault, advertise it to. Make it obvious. This can be done in a subtle way e.g. telling someone in the team that it was a bit of your fault OR with more grandeur e.g. sending a mail to the entire team apologising for something that you have not actually done. The latter is preferred. Before you think am BSing, take a look at the successful people around you. Most, at some point or the other, have step up to the plate and batted for someone else. The trick is to make it so obvious that your manager knows that you are owning it up for someone else. DO NOT OWN UP YOUR OWN MISTAKES. never!

Taking the blame, unfortunately, only works at a level. Do not do it regularly, in which case people think you are a bumbling buffoon. Or till you have someone else you can blame for your own mistakes (this is the case when you become a manager/lead). It is important to note that you should not take the blame if you know someone else can gain from it. This is the situation when you have someone competing for the position you have your eyes set own. Do not own up competition's mistake, the other person will only try to trample upon you. However there is a trick to this too (isn't there always), own your competition's fault if it is so glaring that every one knows who the guilty party is. Your competitor makes a mistake, a big, obvious one everyone knows about it and then you turn up and try to own it up. Try to cover for him. Make it obvious that you are "defending" the poor being. Thats how you show compassion, responsibility and leadership ability.

Have to leave now, gotta own a build break...