Ask HN: What was your worst screw-up at work?
6 comments
First job out of college working at a healthcare organization, our healthcare system db was mssql. There was a column in one of the tables called `recordDeleted` which basically controlled whether or not the document would show up on the front end. I ran an update statement and forgot a where clause (specifying which records I needed to modify), setting thousands of records in prod to 'record delete' status, causing a whirlwind of confusion as to what was happening while workers were servicing clients.
Wrote a mail address in source code thinking that no developer ever would test the app configuring a real smtp server.
We ended up sending emails to the board of a multi-billion company containing "bad words" as the dev were filling text fields with insults and whatever during their tests. I didn't get fired but I still think I was very close.
We ended up sending emails to the board of a multi-billion company containing "bad words" as the dev were filling text fields with insults and whatever during their tests. I didn't get fired but I still think I was very close.
Wasted about 20k ad budget in 6 hours by targeting too generic of an audience by accident.
Burned myself really bad on a flattop grill. Still have the scar 10 years later
Leaving the s3 keys open on a public GitHub account. Rookie mistake.
My manager was very understanding, and walked me through the procedure to restore the DB from backup.
I learned an extremely important lesson that day, and have always remembered it when I see others screw up.