I never want to do this again !

A mindf*ck of a debug

My first ever tech job. I’d been given a task to debug a failing SQL Server Stored Procedure and it was a real mindf*ck of a problem. After a lot of thought, a little luck and most of the day I realised the error was connected to a compound index where some of the values were null. Typically I don’t suffer with headaches but I certainly had one then. I reasoned that the smart thing to do would be to write these steps down in case it ever happened again.

There was a problem - where would I put it so that I’d easily find it again ? The company had no knowledge base just a whole collection of network drives. I’m also not the most organised of people so I went for a coffe and put a lot of thought into where I’d store the file so I could easily find it again.

I don’t quite remember the details (it was a long time ago) but I do remember thinking “So,.. I’ll save it on the G: drive under these folders with this file name - that way I’ll have no problem finding it next time it happens”.

But I wasn’t expecting…

I opened the G: drive. To my surprise the folder structure I’d imagined in my head was already there. To my shock there was already a file with the exact same name I’d chosen. To my utter disbelief I opened it and discovered I’d had the exact same problem almost a year ago….