Share some software engineer horror stories.

Sure. One success story is of Sundar Pichai. He started as an engineer at Google and through his technical expertise and leadership skills, he rose through the ranks. He played a key role in the development of Google Chrome, which became one of the most popular browsers globally. His ability to innovate and manage large - scale projects led him to become the CEO of Google and Alphabet, leading the company to new heights in areas like artificial intelligence and cloud computing.

A train engineer once faced a situation where a herd of deer suddenly ran onto the tracks. There were so many of them that the train couldn't avoid hitting some. It was a horrible feeling, knowing that those poor animals were in harm's way. Another story is about an engineer who had to deal with a fire that started in one of the train cars. He had to keep the train moving to the nearest station while trying to control the fire as much as possible.

I heard about a sound engineer who worked on a film set. The director changed the entire location at the last minute. So, all the sound equipment had to be moved and re - set up in a new environment with different acoustics. This led to a lot of problems with the sound quality, like echoes and background noises that were really hard to deal with. It was a total disaster for the engineer.

In my experience, poor code documentation is really common in these horror stories. Without proper documentation, it's like trying to find your way in a dark forest when you need to make changes to the code. Additionally, over - complex architectures are a problem. Engineers sometimes create architectures that are too elaborate for the project's needs, which makes it difficult to maintain and expand the software. And then there's the issue of insufficient error handling. When errors occur, if there's no proper handling in place, it can lead to all kinds of chaos.

There was a software in a hospital system that suddenly started deleting patient records. It was a nightmare. The software had a glitch that wasn't detected during testing. As a result, some patients had to have their tests redone, and there was a lot of chaos in the hospital. Staff had to work overtime to re - enter the data manually as they couldn't rely on the software for a while.

Mark Zuckerberg also has an interesting software engineer - related success story. He founded Facebook. Zuckerberg started Facebook as a college project to connect students on campus. He wrote the initial code himself. As the platform grew, it became a global phenomenon. His engineering skills, combined with his understanding of user needs, led to the creation of a social media giant. Facebook has changed the way people communicate and share information around the world.

There was a case where the testing team didn't communicate well with the development team. The testers were using an old version of the test cases while the developers had made significant changes. As a result, the software had major bugs that were not detected until it reached the end - users. It was a nightmare to fix all those issues post - launch.

The story of Evan Spiegel at Snapchat is quite remarkable. He was a software engineer who had the idea of creating a photo - sharing app with a unique self - destructing feature. He and his co - founders built Snapchat from the ground up. Despite initial doubts from some in the industry, they managed to grow it into a hugely popular social media platform, attracting millions of users, especially among the younger demographic. This success led to significant investment and the company's IPO.

One engineer success story is that of Elon Musk. He engineered the success of Tesla in the electric vehicle industry. His innovative ideas and determination led to the development of high - performance electric cars that are changing the automotive landscape globally. He also played a crucial role in SpaceX, achieving remarkable feats in space exploration by engineering reusable rockets, which significantly reduced the cost of space travel.

One horror story could be about a train engineer who found a trespasser on the tracks late at night. The trespasser was wearing all black and didn't seem to notice the approaching train. The engineer blasted the horn but the trespasser just stood there. In a split second, the train hit the person. It was a horrible sight and haunted the engineer for a long time.