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Saw this video by Tom Scott and just talk about my biggest "Onosecond" in my career so far.
So to set the field here:
I was assigned to data entry for insurance. the system did not have backups and was nearly 30 years old.
The two biggest flaws were
1: Every insurance company reported records differently for different period
2: There were no backups
I was assigned to data entry for insurance. the system did not have backups and was nearly 30 years old.
The two biggest flaws were
1: Every insurance company reported records differently for different period
2: There were no backups
The system was live with no undos and more importantly it didn't track what files had and hadn't been processed, we had to track that ourselves.
Shouldn't take long to figure out where this is going.
Shouldn't take long to figure out where this is going.
Me and a coworker had a solid folder structure and I had built a spreadsheet with all the different file name formats from every company from Victoria to Halifax.
BUT we also on occasion received incomplete, or duplicate files. We had to track those in folders too and check them.
BUT we also on occasion received incomplete, or duplicate files. We had to track those in folders too and check them.
All it took was one duplicate file that was named as a future file I was too negligent to check. And all of a sudden one companies records had received three duplicate file entries.
I should stress this database affects people's insurance payments
I should stress this database affects people's insurance payments
I realized what had happened only after I went to move the files to the processed folder and noticed there was a period missing.
I said OH FUCK almost loud enough for my coworker to jump out of his seat down the isle.
I said OH FUCK almost loud enough for my coworker to jump out of his seat down the isle.
By some stroke of DUMB ASS LUCK, the company had updated their customer database already only days before this so we had time to course correct, AND we were in a slow week, AND the entry I screwed up was small so it took much less time to fix than it could've
Ate my humble pie in full that day and it wasn't the end of the world but that ate me up for WEEKS.
I could've almost doubled someone's insurance for all I know who was barely scraping by, to no fault of their own, AND made extra work for a co worker.
I could've almost doubled someone's insurance for all I know who was barely scraping by, to no fault of their own, AND made extra work for a co worker.
Data entry is one of the most mindless jobs in the IT space, you can rip someone off the street to do it with most systems.
But because it's so mindless and easy, it's also one of the easiest things in the world to completely screw up and bring down a database.
But because it's so mindless and easy, it's also one of the easiest things in the world to completely screw up and bring down a database.
Should also note I haven't compromised anyone, or any company in this thread.
There are SEVERAL insurance systems like this and I've never talked about who I've worked for on my Twitter. Only what I've done.
There are SEVERAL insurance systems like this and I've never talked about who I've worked for on my Twitter. Only what I've done.
