The Costly Mistake That Changed My Approach to Tech

In the fast-paced world of technology, every professional has experienced a moment that makes their heart drop—a mistake that signifies a major learning opportunity. Recently, a thread discussing Azure MFA on Reddit sparked me to reflect on my own journey.

Early in my career as an implementation consultant, I encountered a situation that remains etched in my memory. Let me set the scene: I was relatively new to SQL and was tasked with executing a statement to delete records at a client’s request. Our integrated development environment (IDE) enabled us to test our code by highlighting the sections we wished to execute, an incredibly useful feature… or so I thought.

Caught up in the moment, I accidentally ran a select statement without properly applying the necessary conditions. In a split second, I deleted millions of records from our production database during one of the busiest times of the year. The impact was immediate and severe—my stomach dropped as I realized the gravity of my mistake.

Fortunately, we were utilizing Oracle 11g at the time, and we had recently enabled flashback functionality. This feature allowed us to recover the deleted data, saving both my job and the integrity of our work.

This harrowing experience taught me a crucial lesson: the importance of testing in isolated environments prior to any actions in production. It’s a reminder that while technology has its safeguards, nothing beats thoroughly planning and taking precautions before executing critical commands.

As is often the case in tech careers, such moments can redefine our practices and priorities. I’m curious to hear from others in the field—what stomach-dropping missteps have you encountered, and what insights did those experiences provide?