CodeSOD

JT Klopcic could not believe his eyes. It was supposed to be a simple assignment. The length of some data field was changing, so he needed to walk through the import process and make sure that all the associated data sizes would accommodate the new length.

To many people, including Ron Owens, the word "some" refers to a relatively small amount in between "none" and "most". But To Ron's employer, and especially in the context of "job responsibly include... some maintenance of legacy VB6 applications", the word "some" tends to mean "pretty much all day long for the indefinite future."

John N's colleague's approach to problem solving is best described as follows. The solution to any given problem is to introduce two additional problems. While this approach generated quite a many interesting implementations, it rarely produced the needed results: simple, custom software for their clients. Ultimately, this approach led towards his de-hiring, which meant that John would have to maintain his old systems.

Mark Baker and Aaron Jenkins had one thing in common: they were both in the midst of a transition at Initech Global. It was Aaron's last day on the job and Mark's very first, and Aaron was tasked with helping Mark get acquainted with the applications, servers, and whatever else a new employee might need.

Every now and then, you’ll come across some code that’s just like a car crash. The twisted, mangled-up kind of crash where the car’s on its side – possibly even on fire – and you can’t help but stare at the wreck with a mix of disgust and interest. Can it be fixed? Hmm, maybe something can be salvaged from the mess. Sheesh, I hope no one died as a result of this.

As a programmer for a steel mill, Josh gets to see all sorts of interesting things. And not the "everyday" things like the gargantuan ladles that carry hundreds of tons of molten steel. Or the red-hot, 2000°F slabs flying through the hydraulic rollers in the hot strip mill. Or even the giant vats of hydrochloric and sulfuric acid used by the pickler. No, I'm talking about The Code.

"With more changes being requested by the business and less time allowed to turn around those changes, we've fallen a bit behind on our deadlines," writes Zarar S, "so I requested that we bring on a contractor to help fill in. It was a long shot, but hey, anything not to come in to the office weekend after weekend."

"I took a job at Initrode Software to help build the bridge to C#/.NET from their current, VB6 codebase," Chris G. writes. "It didn't take me too long to realize that the original programmers of this software — the only product that Initrode sold — had very little real-world experience."