The Eternal Cat And Mouse Debugging Game

Content I've interviewed a lot of people over the last year (Java), and my favorite test is to throw a Stack Trace at them and ask them to figure out what the problem is. The answer is actually quite clear, however. Half of them don't know it's called a stack trace. Some don't know what they're looking at (BYE!). Several focus on the wrong section of proprietary code. Some ask to "open a debugger". however the answer is right there in plain english if you just read the method names. Many don't realize the line numbers are RIGHT THERE, and then start focusing on the lines ending with "Compiled Code". Then there are the ones who work their way up from the bottom, starting with the application container code, and lose their minds. Some who figure out what is happening don't have a solution to prevent it from happening. No, I'm not sharing the trace; suffice to say it's been reviewed by more than 5 of my peers and they all passed. Like Reply 1h Edited I mean, it isn't hard to eliminate people with a coding question. Do you find it impossible to teach people how to read text stack traces, or is this a skill without which they will be unable to do anything of use, or do you just not want to hire anyone? 1 am serious. 1 can come up with dozens of useful programming skills I can test a candidate on that most perfectly skilled programmers would fail. Start with eliminating people who can't code at all. Then find out what they can do that could be useful. If I have 5 people who can already take a printed out stack crash dump, I probably don't need another, and if I do, a qualified candidate can be taught that skill by someone who knows it in under a week. Then again, maybe you work for Stack Trace Inc, and your entire job is looking at stack traces. If so, by bad. Like Reply 22m

The universe has a sick sense of humor when it comes to debugging. You stare at your screen for hours, nothing. Take one bite of lunch? Ding! Lightbulb moment. Go on vacation? Two brilliant solutions pop up. But the true galaxy-brain debugging happens when you're trapped on the porcelain throne with no computer in sight - suddenly your mind unleashes a torrent of solutions more powerful than the flush. The bathroom is where your brain finally decides to stop buffering and deliver that O(1) solution you've been hunting for days. Coincidence? I think not. Your brain is just waiting for the moment when you're literally unable to implement anything.

Content Matt Fernandez FattMernandez 80 of being an adult is trying to fix what you fucked up before anyone finds out you fucked up. 71018, 1:38 PM

Content compiler: Error me: changes nothing, runs again. compiler

Content Wynn Netherland pengw... 1d v Today at fourth grade career day: Me: What does a software engineer do? Kid up front: You fix computers! Me: Only at Thanksgiving. Knowing nod from nerdy kid on the back row. 05 17208 870

DARLING, the ETERNAL DRAMA of IT support! 💅 From the humble help desk guy on the left just BEGGING you to restart your computer to Star Trek's Geordi La Forge on the right using FANCY TECHNOBABBLE to suggest THE EXACT SAME THING! The audacity! The sheer DECEPTION! It's like ordering a $50 cocktail that's just vodka with a fancy umbrella! No matter how advanced technology gets, the solution is STILL just "unplug it and plug it back in" but make it ✨fashion✨. I'm DYING at how this has been IT's secret weapon since the dawn of computing!