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WTF Moments | webally.co.za
When you run into a situation where you are saying WTF... How did that happen?, you are probably convinced that there is a bug in the programming language (This could be, but there's probably not). You might be thinking that someone changed something and they did not tell you (This could be, but after asking around... Probably not). You re-run the code and now it works, and now you either have to worry even more, or you call it a fluke and carry on... but not a week later you hear about a support call that no one can explain or replicate and it sounds like what happened to you, and again you think WTF, should I say something? Do I try to replicate it?
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It is bound to happen
Okay, so what I just mentioned is bound to happen to any developer from time to time, maybe years can pass between such horrible confusing yet valuable moments. There are edge cases that I've run into, and that I have dismissed. Then one day it happens again... Then again and then it starts happening on a weekly and then daily basis. When this happens you should feel both worried and good, worried because you don't know WTF is going on, but good because the edge case is happening a lot more, so that means the piece of code you wrote is being used a lot more, so you are making a difference (Maybe not in the way you had hoped, but a difference never the less)
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Tell your team, or ask someone online
The first thing I suggest you do is to tell your team what you can't explain and that you have been asking yourself WTF, and that you thought it was an isolated incident... Basically, don't keep it quiet, the chances are that someone else would have an idea of what it could be, even though you don't. Not saying anything because you are not sure if it is indeed something you are responsible for, is not the way to go, if you don't know what is causing it, then you might also not know what else it is effecting and what the implications might be, so speak up, no one will be screaming at you, but they will if you keep it quiet and it causes the new navigation system to go berserk and guide all the school busses into a head on collision, or some other common thing that sometimes never happens 🤯
If it so happens that you are the most senior developer where you are or maybe the only backend developer, then you can always ask people online, join Stack Overflow or similar.