My client's 'simple' website update turned into a 3 week coding nightmare

They asked me to add a new payment option to their online store, said it would be easy. I figured maybe two days. The first payment system's code was a total mess, full of old stuff that broke the new one. I had to rebuild the whole checkout page from scratch to make them work together. It took 21 days and I lost two other jobs waiting on it. Has anyone else had a 'small' change blow up like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith_thomas10d ago

Ugh, this is the story of modern life, not just coding. Everything is built on top of other old, shaky things. Like when my building's "simple" intercom fix meant they had to rewire the whole lobby because the old wires were toast. Or when updating my phone's OS breaks three apps that haven't been updated in years. One small fix always seems to uncover a huge, rotten foundation you have to rebuild first.

the_mia10d ago

Feels like fixing one leak floods the whole house.

jamiesingh3d agoMost Upvoted

@the_mia Is it just that everything is old and connected, or is there also a pressure to patch things fast instead of doing it right? Feels like we're always choosing the cheap band-aid fix over actually rebuilding the shaky foundation. Then the next leak is even bigger.