The Three Stages of Debugging
Debugging isn’t just a skill—it’s an emotional rollercoaster. Let’s break it down:
Stage 1: Denial 🤨
”It’s not my code. The API must be down.”
- You check the API. It’s fine.
- You check your database. Also fine.
- You check Stack Overflow. The top answer says: “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
- You refuse to accept that the problem is… you.
Stage 2: Bargaining 😵💫
”Okay, if I fix this bug, I swear I’ll never push directly to production again.”
- You start randomly adding
console.log()everywhere. - Still doesn’t work?
- You add
console.log("WHY")and"HELPPPP". - Now your terminal looks like the Matrix, and you’re still confused.
Stage 3: Surrender 🤦♂️
“Fine, I give up. Let me just undo my changes…”
- You remove all your “fixes.”
- It magically starts working.
- You stare at your screen in silent horror.
- You push to production anyway and pray.
Common Developer Rituals 🧙♂️
| Ritual | Purpose | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Restarting VS Code | Summon the coding gods | 0% improvement |
| Copying code from Stack Overflow | Black magic | 50/50 chance of breaking everything |
Running npm install again | Fake productivity | Still doesn’t work |
| Swearing at your PC | Emotional therapy | No effect, but feels good |
Things That Are Always Broken
✅ The “temporary” fix you pushed last year
✅ Your CSS on mobile
✅ The one bug you told your manager was “an easy fix”
✅ Your will to live after a merge conflict
Final Thoughts
If you’ve ever spent hours debugging only to find out you forgot a semicolon, welcome to the club. We meet every Thursday at 4:20 PM on Stack Overflow.
