10 Worst Nightmares For Web Developers

Many people around me cruise my pursuit as a web developer is easy. Usually they see me lambaste a keyboard from home, with a good prohibited crater of coffee or tea subsequent to me. What they don’t see is what goes on in a appurtenance in front of me.

Almost any developer will face a same problems we face: a worse box scenarios, a nightmare-inducing horrors; a infrequently unfortunate; infrequently “someone contingency be pulling a terrible antic on me” feelings – during times jumping off a overpass seems like a easier thing to do. If we are a seasoned web developer who has worked with many clients and projects, we competence have come conflicting some of these situations.

For those of we who are thinking of apropos a web or app developer, these are some of a situations we competence eventually find yourself in. Be prepared to face them, and don’t contend we were never warned. These are a 10 misfortune nightmares developers have to face.

Recommended Reading: 30 Common Reactions Programmers Have When Things Go Wrong

1. Fixing Other Developers Perplexing Codes (and Bugs)

If we have usually assimilated a new company, we will many substantially find yourself in a position of cleaning adult a devise left behind by a developer we usually replaced. Chances are a formula is lengthy, genuine complex, unreadable, critically ridden with bugs… and already live online. Of course, we could be a propitious 5% who don’t have to repair another developer’s code, though honestly code-fixing happens some-more mostly than not.

The problem arises given developers, like writers, have their possess character of coding. This is where support becomes a godsend – if we have always hated doing a support (don’t we all?) afterwards know that this is essential for a reason of anyone who has to hold your code.

Without correct documentation, a new developer has to indicate by lines of formula to figure out your (or a strange developer’s) suspicion process. It’s times like this that we wish telepathy indeed exists.

Read Also: 10 Programming Habits Developers Should Adopt

2. Bugs Appear during The Worst Possible Moment

After months of tough work and tons of caffeine, we finally expelled your app to a masses or benefaction it to your client. You are unequivocally vehement and can see a light during a finish of a tunnel, after months of boring by a same devise night after night.

Then, it hits. A vicious bug occurs during a demo, or elicits complaints from hundreds of new users. Your ideal perspective of your ideal devise comes crashing down. But strike “pause” for a moment.

First of all, know that this could occur to anyone – even to shining developers of vital products like Facebook and Twitter. For those who have been there, we know how frustrating this conditions can be; a bad reviews usually keep entrance in, or a clients demeanour during we like we have committed a ultimate crime or contaminated a family name.

You know what we can do? Keep calm. Fix a bugs ASAP and usually keep a true face. Don’t let this drag we down for too long… unless a repair causes other bugs to appear!

3. Fixed a Bug; means New Ones

Bug regulating is a required evil. Torturous, sterile and usually a heart-problem inducing activity that creates we doubt given we wish to be a developer in a initial place. Every developer has been there. After hours of drumming on your keyboard, we finally repair a strange bug usually to find that we have combined additional ones!

It could be that we have updated a library given it was not concordant with another library we were using, usually to find that the new library conflicted with your code. Meanwhile a deadline looms on, a calls to check adult on we keep entrance in, and a series of errors usually keep pier up.

Stop tugging during your hair and try to devise forward for this. To forestall a identical conditions from function with destiny projects, use Git to conduct your revisions as it allows we to revert to prior revisions if a new one doesn’t work properly.

Also, remember to ask any rider carefully. It competence seem like a neve-wrecking charge though when pull comes to shove, you will appreciate your past self for unresolved on and indeed doing a documentation.

4. The Bug Resides In a Library You Rely On

You know what is an even worse nightmare? When a bug we found in your formula doesn’t indeed exist in your formula though in one of a libraries we used. We mostly rest on mixed libraries to build websites, and developers may use a same library for mixed projects, though a hitch.

In this sold scenario, however, a bug occurs, we check on it, and we find that a bug happens to come from one of a libraries we use. What do we do? It’s a dilemma, isn’t it? Let’s cruise a options.

• You competence wish to repair a library on your own, in that box we should ask yourself how proficient are we with a codes within a library to indeed do that?


• Can’t repair it? Then, should we record for a ask for a developer to repair it? That’s going to take some time, that they aren’t thankful to rush out given we are a one with a deadline, not them.


• What about replacing that library with another one? That would get a bug out of a system. But afterwards we will need to rewrite chunks of your formula usually to make things work.

Look, we pronounced they were options, we never pronounced that any of them is easy. Just urge to a programming gods that we never have to be subjected to this situation, or to a subsequent one either.

5. The Bug Cause is “Unknown”

No, this can’t be! You have been acid for days for a bug, formulating mixed Git branches for testing, though the bug stays elusive. You go to StackOverflow for a reprieve, usually to find a doubt with a same problem posted 2 years ago with 0 answers.

It competence not be a vicious error, nonetheless it tugs on we like an eagerness that we can’t strech or get absolved of. Your conduct starts to spin, we keep revelation yourself that if we spend one some-more hour searching, we will find that damn bug.

Stop. The resolution to this problem is indeed a approach opposite. You should stay divided from your mechanism for half a day, or longer (going for 2 days is best). You are pang from mental tired that prevents we from “seeing” or “finding” a tangible problem. Taking a mangle will assistance get we adult to 100% again.

And if my knowledge can be a source of reference, infrequently a bug rectifies itself and ceases to be a problem, though your interference. It usually happens, and when we are exhausted, we unequivocally don’t caring to find out why.

6. Data Lost, No Backup

Holey moley, this is a calamity even non-developers can describe to. You humour from finish information detriment and we abuse yourself for not spending a time to backup your files. If this happens to you, we really have yourself to blame.

Even when operative with unequivocally fast systems, your tough hoop competence unexpected act up, your kids competence press a Delete button, or we incidentally brief coffee on your laptop. Rather than cry over spilled coffee, return to your backup copy, and keep your high blood vigour down. This is not a doctrine we wish to learn a tough way.

Personally we don’t have usually one or dual sources for subsidy adult critical files – we have three: Time Machine, Dropbox, and OneDrive. OS X users should capacitate Time Machine. For Windows users, capacitate a Backup and Restore underline from a Control Panel.

7. Making it Work in Internet Explorer 6

For some reason, there is still a need to make complicated apps work on Internet Explorer 6 given some clients and their business still insist on regulating Internet Explorer 6. If we are one of these people, let me make it transparent to we how time-consuming and pathetic coding for IE 6 is.

The time developers spend to make a web app work in IE 6 could be three or some-more times longer than to build a app for complicated browsers like Chrome or Firefox. The frustrating partial is that it will not run as uniformly or as impressive on IE 6 as it will on a new browsers. Some of a effects won’t take effect, some of a bugs will keep bugging we and don’t get me started on security issues.

You are creation life tough for developers given we or your complement exclude to use a newer browser. And if we have any recommendation to share with associate developers, it is that we should charge double or some-more for those who ask for a complicated day web app to still be means to run on IE 6. And it still would not be value a trouble.

8. The Semicolon Key is Not Working

Several programming languages JavaScript and PHP need a semicolon to symbol a finish of a statement. It is like a period or full stop that ends a sentence.

Many errors occur because of a blank semicolon, and we really can't have your semicolon pivotal on your keyboard stop working. Consider carrying a gangling keyboard that we can block in to use in box of emergencies like this.

9. Internet and Google is Down

If Google is critical to we in your work or study, know that it is doubly critical for developers. As web developers, we use Google to hunt for formula samples, find resolution for bugs, combine with peers, and more.

If a Internet and Google goes down, we would have to go behind to an earlier, removed “period of darkness”. We will be stuck, not meaningful what to do if we confront sold bug. For a many part, Google always saves us. So, hats off to a developers or programmers who were doing this before a age of a Internet – we crawl to thee.

Read Also: 10 Misconceptions That Are Not True About Learning Programming

10. You are a consultant (You can do anything)

To interpretation this list of nightmares developers have to face, we leave we with this Youtube video called The Expert by Lauris Beinerts. You will find out how unpleasant it is to turn a Expert.

Further Reading

For an inside demeanour into other forms of freelancing or online jobs, we competence be meddlesome in:

• Guest Blogging: An Editor Tells You What You Are Doing Wrong


• 10 Signs You Have Gone Too Far Into Freelance Design


• Freelance Writers: A Look Inside The WorldO f Freelance Writing


• Confessions Of A Web Editor – An Inside Look

10 Worst Nightmares For Web Developers