Coding and Rubber Duckies

♫ Rubber ducky, you’re the one! ♫

A nightmare of a week with competing deadlines and other issues ended with me explaining the rubber ducky theory of debugging to a marketing coworker who is also relatively new to the company.

For those who are not familiar with the idea, it’s the thought that when you have a problem in code, it doesn’t matter who or what you’re explaining it to, just that saying the issue out loud helps you see it in a different way.

♫ You make bath time, so much fun! ♫

Not even 24 hours later, all hell broke loose on a project we (the marketing coworker and I) thought was complete, and a month’s worth of work was given the deadline of yesterday.

♫ Rubber ducky, you’re so fine! ♫

The Monday after all hell broke loose on this project, that same marketing coworker, whom I work closely with, showed up at my desk with a gift bag because she felt bad for her part of the ton of work that had just fallen on me (and by extension, my team).

Lo and behold at the bottom of that bag full of chocolate, I find a family of rubber ducks!

♫ And I’m lucky, that you’re mine! ♫

I was touched by her thoughtfulness, and tweeted as such.

I went about by business, working on the giant project with a tiny deadline. I checked in on Twitter at lunch time, and never had I been so glad that I have a bunch of notifications turned off for my phone!

@SwiftonSecurity had retweeted me (jaw hits floor) and it quickly became my most popular tweet ever! I didn’t expect it to be so relatable, I was just sharing a coworker’s kindness.

♫ Rubber ducky, I’d like a whole pond of –
Rubber ducky I’m of –
Rubber ducky I’m awfully fond of you! ♫

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