Debugging

At Level 1, you're learning the basic detective work of software engineering: how to spot when something's wrong and start figuring out why. You're likely working on relatively straightforward bugs or encountering problems during your own development work. You may not yet have a structured approach to debugging, but you’re gaining awareness of tools like logs, breakpoints, and stack traces. Often, your best tool is asking for help—and that’s a good place to start.

Key Behaviors

  • Notices when something is broken and asks for help
  • Uses print statements or console logs to inspect values
  • Reproduces simple bugs in development or staging environments
  • Follows debugging steps suggested by teammates
  • Begins to observe patterns in common issues

Common Struggles

  • Unsure how to isolate or reproduce issues
  • May jump to conclusions or try random fixes
  • Doesn't yet use systematic strategies or tooling
  • May depend on others to investigate or validate fixes

Success Indicators

You know you're successful when you:

  • Recognize when something’s wrong and try to learn why
  • Use basic inspection techniques (logs, console, etc.)
  • Communicate clearly about bugs you encounter
  • Ask good questions and follow guidance to learn how others debug

Mindset Shift

From:

"Something's broken, what do I try?"

To:

"What steps can I take to isolate the cause of this issue?"

Questions to Ask Yourself

  • Can I reproduce this reliably?
  • What changed recently that might have caused this?
  • What logs or traces could help me understand what happened?

Build These Habits

  • 1
    Practice isolating issues by changing one thing at a time
  • 2
    Learn to read stack traces and trace logs through the code
  • 3
    Try to reproduce issues in your local or staging environment
  • 4
    Take notes on what you tried and what you observed

Seek Feedback

  • "How would you approach debugging this?"
  • "What clues do you look for when you’re stuck?"
  • "Am I using the right tools or techniques for this kind of issue?"

Signals You're Ready to Level Up

  • You isolate simple issues without much help
  • You try multiple debugging strategies before asking
  • You learn from each bug and apply that insight later

Focus Summary

  • Be curious
  • Be systematic
  • Every bug is a chance to learn

Debugging is how we turn confusion into clarity. At Level 1, you’re just starting to build your toolkit and instincts—and that’s where everyone begins.