The original title is "Decades In, and a Date Field Still Got Me"

Short summary

A veteran developer recounts how a one-line date comparison bug silently broke a high-value, low-traffic transaction—caught only when a user reported it. The hard-won lesson: simplest bugs are often most costly because they escape scrutiny. Test boundaries obsessively, measure severity by impact not volume, and recognize every user-reported bug as a signal that your safety nets failed.

• •Simple bugs survive code review precisely because they look harmless; complex code gets more scrutiny
• •Low-traffic paths guarding high-value transactions need special attention—don't measure risk by volume alone
• •Users are your last line of defense; every bug report reveals a gap in testing, monitoring, or design

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