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Junior Devs: You're Debugging WRONG (I've Been a Senior for 25 Years)

Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bug


The Moment Every Developer Fears

Picture this: You've got a bug. The error message looks like alphabet soup had a fight with a random number generator. You paste it into Google with the desperation of someone searching for water in a desert.

Page one of results? Nothing relevant.

Page two? Still nothing.

Page THREE of Google results? Come on, nobody goes to page three. That's like the Upside Down of search results.

Most junior developers hit this wall and either panic, assume they're doing something impossibly weird, or worse - restart their entire project thinking THEY must be the problem.

"I must be doing something REALLY wrong. This has to be my fault. Maybe I should just start over. Maybe I should switch careers and become a woodworker."

Sound familiar?


The Senior Developer Secret (That Nobody Tells You)

Here's what a calm, battle-tested senior developer would tell you:

"Oh cool, uncharted territory. This means you're actually building something."

Wait, what? Cool? COOL?!

Yes, cool. Because here's the secret that took me 25 years to fully internalize:

The absence of Stack Overflow answers doesn't mean you're doing it wrong. It often means you're doing something interesting.

Senior devs know that the best bugs - the ones you'll remember forever - are the ones you solve yourself. They've been here before. They know this feeling. And more importantly, they have a system.

They're not smarter than you. They just have better debugging habits. And habits can be learned.


Real Example: The Tuesday Payment Mystery

Let me show you a real example from my experience. Last month, I was integrating a payment API. The webhook was failing, but only in production. Only on Tuesdays. Only when the payment amount ended in .99.

I'm not making this up.

Stack Overflow? Useless.
The API docs? Vague marketing speak about "seamless integration."
GitHub issues? Three people with similar problems, all abandoned threads from 2019.

Here's what I did instead:

Step 1: Rubber Duck It πŸ¦†

I explained the problem out loud to my actual rubber duck (yes, I have one, don't judge).

"So the webhook works on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday... but fails on TUESDAY..."

Boom. Timezone issue. Tuesday 11 PM my time was Wednesday 2 AM server time, which triggered their "next-day processing" logic.

Step 2: Binary Search My Assumptions

I started removing pieces:

  • Commented out the amount logic. Still failed. Okay, not the amount.
  • Removed the timezone conversion. WORKED. There it is.

Step 3: Read the Actual Error (Not Just Google It)

The error said invalid_timestamp_format but I was too busy panicking to actually READ it. Their API wanted Unix timestamps, not ISO strings.

Total debugging time: 2 hours
Time wasted panicking first: 3 hours


The Sherlock Holmes Method: Your New Mental Model

After 25 years in the industry, here's the debugging framework that actually works. I call it the "Sherlock Holmes Method" (because naming things is hard and everyone likes Sherlock):

πŸ” The Facts

  • What EXACTLY is breaking?
  • When does it break?
  • When does it NOT break?

❌ The Assumptions

  • What am I assuming is true?
  • What if I'm wrong about [pick your biggest assumption]?

πŸ”¬ The Experiments

  • What's the SMALLEST change I can make to test my theory?
  • Can I reproduce this with 10 lines of code?

πŸ“ The Documentation

  • Write down what you tried (you WILL forget)
  • Include what DIDN'T work (this is gold)

Think of debugging like a murder mystery. The bug is definitely somewhere in the code. Your job isn't to be a genius - it's to systematically eliminate suspects until only the truth remains.


One Thing You Can Do Tomorrow

Here's your actionable takeaway. Next time you hit that wall:

Create a "Debugging Notes" file

When Stack Overflow fails you, open a text file called debug-notes.md and write:

## The Bug
[Description in plain English]

## What I Know
* [Fact 1]
* [Fact 2]

## What I'm Assuming
* [Assumption 1]
* [Assumption 2]

## Experiments
* [ ] Try X
* [ ] Try Y

## What Didn't Work
* Tried Z, still failed because...
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

Why does this work? Because the act of writing forces you to think clearly. And 50% of debugging is just thinking clearly.

You're also creating documentation for the NEXT person who hits this bug (might be future you at 3 AM on a Sunday).


The Perspective Shift That Changes Everything

Here's what changed my entire relationship with debugging:

No Stack Overflow answer means you get to WRITE the Stack Overflow answer.

Think about that. Every answer on Stack Overflow was written by someone who got stuck first. They're not wizards. They just solved it, then shared it.

You could be that person. You could be the one who helps the next developer who searches for this exact error message.

How cool is that?


Remember These Four Things

  • βœ… Absence of answers β‰  You're doing it wrong
  • βœ… Senior devs have systems, not superpowers
  • βœ… Write it down. Seriously. Write. It. Down.
  • βœ… You're not stuck. You're solving a puzzle.

Next time you can't find your answer on Stack Overflow, take a breath, smile a little, and think:

"Okay, time to be the senior dev I want to become."

The best debugging happens when Google goes silent.


Your Turn

What's the weirdest bug you've ever solved? Drop it in the comments below - I read every single one, and your debugging horror stories remind me I'm not alone in this chaos.

If this article helped you, give it a ❀️ and bookmark it for the next time you're stuck at 2 AM questioning all your life choices.

Happy debugging! πŸ›πŸ”


P.S. I also created a YouTube video walking through this framework with visual examples if you prefer video content.


About the Author: I'm Mark; Senior Software Engineer with 25+ years experience

I share real-world developer lessons on YouTube πŸ“Ή β†’

Lessons from Production - YouTube

Hi, I’m Mark β€” a Senior Software Engineer with 25+ years of experience building and maintaining real-world Microsoft-based systems. I’ve worked across Classic ASP, early .NET, C#, ASP.NET Core, and modern cloud applications. This channel is focused on practical software engineering that works in production, not hype or buzzwords. This channel is for junior and mid-level developers who want to understand how professional software is designed, maintained, and fixed in the real world. You’ll find videos on: πŸ—οΈ .NET architecture and system design πŸ” Authentication, security, and application architecture ⚠️ Common developer mistakes (and how seniors avoid them) πŸ”„ Modernising legacy systems and managing technical debt 🎯 Career advice from decades in the industry I focus on why things work the way they do, not just how to write code. If you want to become a better developer and survive long-term in software, you’re in the right place.

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Note: This article was written with AI assistance to help structure and articulate 25+ years of debugging experience. All examples, insights, and methodologies are from real-world experience.

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