Networks Hope your holiday was horrid: You botched the last thing you did before leaving That box-full-of-old-tech-you-should-probably-have-thrown-out-but-kept-just-in-case got a techie in trouble
Personal Tech PowerPoint punishment sent users into an infinite loop after lunch There was only one ESC from sneaky screenshots and fake BSODs
Bootnotes 'Invisible mouse' made a mess of PC rebuild You can't fix what you can't see – especially when your workspace is a maelstrom
Storage IT manager approved downtime over lunch, but made a meal of it Optimism is always risky, and defective hardware makes it indigestible
Columnists The developer who came in from the cold and melted a mainframe It's not just machines that need proper HVAC
Security Security contractor blew the whistle on support crew's viral indifference Career-limiting stupidity and rudeness exposed, with terminal consequences
AI + ML Junior disobeyed orders and tried untested feature during a live robot demo First came the facepalm, then the faceplant, then the loss of face
On-Prem Brilliant backups that kept data alive for ages landed web developer in big trouble Client omissions caused the problem, so guess who was thrown under the bus
Networks Bug that wiped customer data saved the day – and a contract Ignorance really was the way to achieve bliss
On-Prem Server crashes traced to one very literal knee-jerk reaction Oh, the contortions required to debug strange errors!
Personal Tech Work experience kids messed with manager's PC to send him to Ctrl-Alt-Del hell Rogue user showed them an excellent prank, which they put into production
Columnists Final step to put new website into production deleted it instead 02:00 AM is not the time to ignore procedures and rely on a shortcut to do a tricky job
On-Prem Tech support chap invented fake fix for non-problem and watched it spread across the office You can fix all sorts of things with a paperclip, but not gullibility
On-Prem Techie's one ring brought darkness by shorting a server Love hurts, but being exposed is more painful
On-Prem Marketing 'genius' destroyed a printer by trying to fix a paper jam This story starts with the worst mistake of them all – loaning a tool
Security ATM maintenance tech broke the bank by forgetting to return a key Bank staff wore the blame for a silly security slip
Storage Techie banned from client site for outage he didn’t cause UPSes don’t work without power, or well-designed electricals
Software Techie turned the tables on office bullies with remote access rumble Meet the ‘Mean Avenger’, the office anti-hero who steps in when managers don’t defend their team
Columnists New boss was bad, his attitude was ugly, so the tech team pranked him good Mousey wouldn’t work, wah-wah-wah
CxO Techie 'forgot' to tell boss their cost-saving idea meant a day of gaming One keypress turned a tricky Windows NT balancing act into a life of leisure
On-Prem Untrained techie broke the rules, made a mistake, and found a better way to work Ignorance really can be bliss
Software Web dev's crawler took down major online bookstore by buying too many books Forgot one setting, for one subdomain, and caused an hour of severe errors
Columnists Dev's last-day-of-contract code helped to crash app used by 350,000 people Customer signed off and a remaining staffer triggered the mess
Columnists Developer made one wrong click and sent his AWS bill into the stratosphere Yes, he knows the 40x increase could have been avoided with some pretty simple automation
OSes Techie ran up $40,000 bill trying to download a driver In the dialup age, small mistakes could cost big money
Databases ‘ERP down for emergency maintenance’ was code for ‘You deleted what?’ One SQL slip-up is survivable. Not learning from the first mess meant change
On-Prem Frustrated consultant 'went full Hulk' and started smashing hardware Four back-to-back weekends of work – and disastrously bad documentation – will do that do a techie
Columnists Company that made power systems for servers didn’t know why its own machines ran out of juice Oh … you mean we shouldn’t press that button?
Networks Techies tossed appliance that had no power cord, but turned out to power their company Illicit colo cleanup seemed like a good way to get out of the house during Covid
Software Techie found an error message so rude the CEO of IBM apologized for it Big Blue turned the air blue
Software Intern had no idea what not to do, so nearly mangled a mainframe An early career lesson in the power of documentation, and the importance of exploration
Software Bored developers accidentally turned their watercooler into a bootleg brewery Revenge on managers who slow things down is a drink best served with floating fungus
Software After deleting a web server, I started checking what I typed before hitting 'Enter' Student thought she had the hang of this 'Linux' thing and its kooky CLI
On-Prem Playing ball games in the datacenter was obviously stupid, but we had to win the league You're out, forever!
Columnists I was a part-time DBA. After this failover foul-up, they hired a full-time DBA At last, enough hours in the day to RTFM
Columnists CIO made a dangerous mistake and ordered his security team to implement it Firewall pro enjoyed European travel to fix the fallout
Storage Teen interns brute-forced a disk install, with predictable results The real lesson here is how little some companies care about training
On-Prem Pay attention, class: Today you’ll learn the wrong way to turn things off Instructor ended up teaching a lesson in how to get away with mistakes
Software Tech bro denied dev's hard-earned bonus for bug that overcharged a little old lady Startups aren't good at testing software, or respecting contracts
On-Prem Intern did exactly what he was told and turned off the wrong server And was then blamed for not knowing about inaccurate labels
Columnists Under-qualified sysadmin crashed Amazon.com for 3 hours with a typo 'This, many considered, was bad'
Columnists Junior developer's code worked in tests, destroyed data in production For the lack of a little documentation, two techies did a lot of accidental damage
Software Yes, I wrote a very expensive bug. In my defense I was only seven years old at the time Years later, deep into a great tech career, your fellow reader remains inspired by the forgiveness received after the error
Software Junior sysadmin’s first lines of code set off alarms. His next lot crashed the company Sensible CEO wouldn’t let our hero take the blame - a shoddy supervisor got the slap
On-Prem Techie went home rather than fix mistake that caused a massive meltdown And was saved by an even worse meltdown caused by someone else
Offbeat Techie exposed giant tax grab, maybe made government change the rules Custom text fields can be a powerful form of protest
On-Prem Field support chap got married – which took down a mainframe If you like it to keep working, don’t put a ring on it
On-Prem Admin brought his drill to work, destroyed disks and crashed a datacenter Some people will do anything to avoid an all-nighter
Offbeat Techies thought outside the box. Then the boss decided to take the box away Life in a corporate aquarium didn’t go swimmingly
Software Automatic UK-to-US English converter produced amazing mistakes by the vanload Yard of Eden just doesn't have the right ring to it
Software So your [expletive] test failed. So [obscene participle] what? It was acceptable in the '80s
Columnists Teens maintained a mainframe and it went about as well as you'd imagine Fake it till you make it doesn't cut it for mission-critical workloads
Software What the **** did you put in that code? The client thinks it's a cyberattack When your customers work in super-sensitive situations, bad jokes make for bad business
Databases Developer scored huge own goal by deleting almost every football fan in Europe Fiddling with the production database – what could possibly go wrong?
On-Prem Static electricity can be shockingly funny, but the joke's over when a rack goes dark If this techie had been older and slower, this never would have happened
Columnists Dev loudly complained about older colleague, who retired not long after The graybeard wasn't doing a great job and morale improved once he left. How would you handle this?
Networks Tech trainer taught a course on software he'd never used and didn't own 'I'm glad you asked that question. We'll get to that tomorrow' (After I research the answer)
On-Prem After three weeks of night shifts, very tired techie broke the UK’s phone network And got away with it when someone else broke it even more comprehensively
Applications Developer wrote a critical app and forgot where it ran – until it stopped running What comes after testing in the software development lifecycle? Aaah, never mind ... let's skip to maintenance
On-Prem Junior techie rushed off for fun weekend after making a terminal mistake that crashed a client Using one green screen to manage multiple machines needs more than a Friday afternoon brain
Software Techie pulled an all-nighter that one mistake turned into an all-weekender Don’t trust your tired self to do rm -rf right
Columnists Untrained techie botched a big hardware sale by breaking client's ERP 'If I wasn't already taking blood pressure meds, I'm sure I would not have survived'
On-Prem Techie pointed out meetings are pointless, and was punished for it When asked to offer honest feedback, maybe pause to ponder how well you play office politics
Personal Tech Does this thing run on a 220 V power supply? Oh. That puff of smoke suggests not That's not even the worst part of this story, which features a flood, broken promises, and plenty of panic
Networks CompSci teacher sets lab task: Accidentally breaking the university Hey! Teacher! Leave our network alone!
Personal Tech Tired techie botched preventative maintenance he soon learned wasn't needed Epic late-night road trip would have been awesome if not for a secret change of plans
Columnists Developers feared large chaps carrying baseball bats could come to kneecap their ... test account? A whole different kind of 'technical debt' turned into real-world trouble
Databases Life lesson: Don't delete millions of accounts on the same day you go to the dentist Or ignore documentation that warns you are about to do something dangerous
Devops Brackets go there? Oops. That’s not where I used them and now things are broken Weird syntax AND/OR a junior techie can be very bad for business
Software Coder wrote a bug so bad security guards wanted a word when he arrived at work Working for a startup is supposed to end with getting rich overnight, but not like this
Networks Panic at the Cisco tech, thanks to ancient IOS syntax helper that outsmarted itself Misplaced shortcut led to communication breakdown
Networks NetAdmin learns that wooden chocks, unlike swipe cards, open doors when networks can't Burglary skills are surprisingly important when building networks
On-Prem Network engineer chose humiliation over a night on the datacenter floor To avoid lock-in, it helps if you remember your keys
Systems The sad tale of the Alpha massacre Those old operating systems had awesome power – you had to be careful wielding it
On-Prem Relocation is a complete success – right up until the last minute It may be a cliché to say 'Don't rest on your laurels' but you really shouldn't
Networks I made this network so resilient nothing could possibly go wro... All the redundancy in the world can't help a 'brown trouser' mistake
Networks Linux admin asked savvy scientist for IT help and the boffin blew it In science, every day is about testing hypotheses. Such as: 'plugging this thing in here is OK, right?'
Software Compression? What's that? And why is the network congested and the PCs frozen? The only thing worse than a Reply All storm is a Send All storm
Networks After we fix that, how about we also accidentally break something important? You had one job – doing extra is nice, but dangerous
Software Personalized pop-up was funny for about a second, until it felt like stalking The call was coming from inside the house
On-Prem Did you hear the one about the help desk chap who abused privileges to prank his mate? The result was no joke, thanks to a Microsoft glitch
Software I don't know what pressing Delete will do, but it seems safe enough! You've got mail … actually no, you've got nothing
Software Python script saw students booted off the mainframe for sending one insult too many Come and see the violence inherent in the system!
Software Techie made a biblical boo-boo when trying to spread the word The technology was willing, but the cache was weak
Personal Tech Bargain-hunting boss saw his bonus go up in a puff of self-inflicted smoke Buying PCs off the gray market can (literally) blow up in your face
Columnists Developer tried to dress for success, but ended up attired for an expensive outage Debugging software on the waterfront is a strangely dangerous task
Networks Cigarette break burned out a huge chunk of Africa's internet A fake hacker trying to take credit didn't help much, either
Storage Never put off until tomorrow what someone could erase today When even tape can't save you, procrastination is a problem
Software Facebook prank sent techie straight to Excel hell When someone kicks a chair across the room out of fear they'll be fired it's stopped being funny
Offbeat There is no honor among RAM thieves – but sometimes there is karma Techie left spitting chips made sure the boss was, too
Off-Prem Outback shocker left Aussie techie with a secret not worth sharing That's not an outage … that's an outage
On-Prem Techie installed 'user attitude readjustment tool' after getting hammered in a Police station
On-Prem A thump with the pointy end of a screwdriver will fix this server! What could possibly go wrong?
Personal Tech IT sent the intern to sort out the nasty VP who was too important to bother with backups
On-Prem Bright spark techie knew the drill and used it to install a power line, but couldn't outsmart an odd electrician
Security Rigorous dev courageously lied about exec's NSFW printouts – and survived long enough to quit with dignity
Security Student requested access to research data. And waited. And waited. And then hacked to get root
Software A tip for content filter evaluators: erase the list of sites you tested, don't share them on 100 PCs
Security Learn the art of malicious compliance: doing exactly what you were asked, even when it's wrong
Software Dear Stupid, I write with news I did not check the content of the [Name] field before sending this letter
Networks Job 1: Get the boss on the network. Job 2: Figure out why Job 1 broke the network for everyone else
On-Prem Just follow the instructions … no wait, not that instruction to lock everyone out of everything
Software Run a demo on live data? Sure! What could possibly go wrong? Hang on. Are you sure that's not working?
Systems Data loss prevention emergency tactic: keep your finger on the power button for the foreseeable future
Channel Salesperson's tech dream delivered by ill-equipped consultant who charged for the inevitable fix
