6 reasons developers should love software bugs

Μy dad, who taught me how to program in GWBasic, suddenly stopped debugging my code and said: “it is time you learned how to fix your own bugs son”. I was eight years old and pretty hyped developing a battleship game. However, facing the next bug on my own made me think I should try my luck in other hobbies. I could have been a first class street runner, but my dad explained: “Read the code pretending you are the compiler”. It took me thirty years to realize that bugs were a huge help in my career. If there is one professional skill I am especially proud of, it is definitely my debugging capacity. And being exposed to bugs on a daily basis, along with a continuous effort to improve my debugging craft, helped me realize the following reasons why developers should not be intimidated by bugs.

1. When a bug pauses your developing rhythm, it is like a time paradox. It surely costs you time, but also grants you time! Time to take a step back and rethink which are your next steps. Maybe this bug happened due to poor algorithm design or overly complicated solution architecture.
2. Bugs are kind of an annoying puzzle. If you can manage your frustration and treat them for what they really are they help you keep your brain sharp.
3. Every bug is a lesson to be learned, even those you are familiar with. Try to estimate the underlying problem. Could be lack of sleep, knowledge, or team work. Could be refactoring that you’ve been putting off for so long. Spend a few minutes to find out.
4. Bugs put to the test not only your coding skills, but your personality as well. If you want to be a better coder you will have to face your ego, manage your temper, open up your mind, ask for help, laugh with your mistakes, and share.
5. Mastering the art of debugging is a highly appreciated skill. A capable debugger can find the source of error even if he is not in the production team or not familiar with the whole code.
6. It should be clear to you by now, bugs make you a better developer. But it goes even further. You can learn how to learn more effectively. In time, you will notice that your nose will become more sensitive to code smells, and this will grow the skill to learn while reviewing code of a better programmer.

My battleship game finally worked. It had such a low level of UI/UX that we only played once with my father and once with my uncle. But hey, UI/UX concept was not even invented back then. I do not have any screenshots from that game, since it was not a simple task to get a screenshot in GWB environment, but these moments where I play my own game will never fade out anyway. Thanks, Dad!