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That Time I Spent Hours Fixing a Problem I Created Myself

by Eric Hanson, Backend Developer at Clean Systems Consulting

We’ve all been there: staring at the screen, exhausted, only to realize we’re the reason the system broke. Here’s my story of self-inflicted chaos.

The “Simple” Change

It started with what I thought was a minor tweak.

  • Just a small refactor.
  • Code looked cleaner.
  • Tests passed locally.

I pushed it to staging, feeling proud. Famous last words.

The Mystery Bug Appears

Within minutes, reports started rolling in:

  • API endpoints returning errors.
  • Some users couldn’t log in.
  • Logs full of exceptions I didn’t recognize.

My stomach sank. I hadn’t changed much—or so I thought.

Hours of Investigation

I dove into debugging mode:

  • Checked recent commits.
  • Reverted caches and environment configs.
  • Tested edge cases repeatedly.

Nothing seemed to fix it. My confidence was crumbling. The problem felt like an unsolvable puzzle.

The Moment of Truth

After hours of frustration, I retraced every step slowly. And then I saw it:

  • A tiny variable name typo in the refactor.
  • That one small mistake caused the entire feature to break.

All that panic and effort—caused by me. Classic.

Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Spending hours fixing a self-made problem taught me:

  • Double-check your changes. Even small tweaks can ripple.
  • Use automated tests. They catch the typos you overlook.
  • Take a breath before panicking. Often, the problem is simpler than it seems.
  • Document carefully. Refactors should be easy to trace back.

Final Thoughts

Fixing a problem you created yourself is humbling, exhausting, and educational all at once.

Next time I break something: I’ll blame the code less, and check my own changes more. It’s faster, and honestly, less painful.

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