Background: I’ve been in the industry for 8 years. My company bought a smaller but successful product last year. I moved to this team to help merge it with our other software.
What happened: The product didn’t have good admin tools. We often had to run SQL directly on the live database to help customers (yikes!).
A common task was updating product codes for specific users. The SQL usually looked like this:
UPDATE users
SET product_access_codes = '...'
WHERE users.id = '123456';
Last week I got an urgent request early in the morning. A user needed their codes updated for a demo. I was half asleep and typed this:
UPDATE users
SET product_access_codes = '...';
WHERE users.id = '123456';
See the extra semicolon? I didn’t until I saw ‘12857294 rows affected’. My heart stopped. I just messed up every user in the database.
I called our SRE team right away. Luckily they had recent backups. We restored the database from 2 minutes before my mistake. The site was down for about 20 minutes.
Result: I didn’t get fired. My team was understanding. We spent time last week making proper admin tools to prevent this from happening again.
Lesson learned: Always be careful with production databases no matter how experienced you are. And always use transactions! If I had done this instead:
BEGIN;
UPDATE users
SET product_access_codes = '...';
WHERE users.id = '123456';
I could have just rolled back when I saw the error. Stay safe out there!
I can relate to your experience, as I’ve had a similar close call in my career. It’s humbling how easily these mistakes can happen, even with years of experience under your belt.
One practice that’s saved me countless times is using a read-only connection for ad-hoc queries. This way, even if I accidentally run an UPDATE or DELETE without a WHERE clause, it fails harmlessly. Of course, this isn’t always possible when you need to make actual changes, but it’s a good safeguard for most database interactions.
Another tip: if your database supports it, consider setting up row-level security or access controls. This can limit the potential damage from accidental broad updates, even when using admin credentials.
Kudos to your team for responding quickly and having recent backups. It’s a stark reminder of why robust backup strategies are crucial. Glad to hear you’ve implemented proper admin tools now – that’s definitely the way forward.
Man, reading your story gave me flashbacks to my own database mishap a few years back. It’s crazy how one tiny mistake can cause such massive issues, right?
I’ve found that using a tool like DBeaver or SQLWorkbench can be a lifesaver for these situations. They often have safeguards built-in that prompt you before executing updates or deletes without a WHERE clause. It’s saved my bacon more than once when I’m doing late-night fixes.
Also, if you’re frequently needing to update user data, it might be worth looking into creating stored procedures for common tasks. That way, you’re not writing raw SQL each time and risking typos. Plus, you can build in extra checks and balances within the procedure itself.
Glad to hear your company took it as a learning opportunity rather than just pointing fingers. In my experience, that’s the sign of a healthy work culture. Keep your chin up – we’ve all been there!
Your experience resonates with many in the field. It’s a stark reminder of the importance of safeguards in database management. One practice I’ve found invaluable is using a staging environment that mirrors production for these types of urgent requests. This allows for verification before touching live data.
Additionally, implementing a four-eyes principle for direct database changes can be beneficial. Having a colleague review the SQL before execution adds an extra layer of protection against potential errors.
It’s commendable that your company used this as an opportunity for improvement rather than punishment. Developing proper admin tools is indeed the right approach. Consider also implementing automated tests for these tools to ensure they remain reliable over time.
Remember, mistakes happen to everyone. The key is learning from them and improving processes to prevent recurrence.
oof, that’s rough buddy. been there, done that. one thing i always do now is use a SELECT statement first to check what i’m about to update. like:
SELECT * FROM users WHERE users.id = ‘123456’;
then i can see exactly what i’m gonna change. saved my butt more times than i can count. glad ur team was cool about it tho!