You know that feeling when you hear something wild that just sticks with you? Like, it makes you totally rethink how things work? Well, I had one of those moments recently. And it was all thanks to a tiny, simple piece of tech from a really sad story.
I'm talking about the Titan submersible. Yeah, that one. We all saw the headlines, the heartbreaking news. But then, as they were cleaning up, something really strange and kind of amazing popped up on my HackerNews feed. Remember that little memory card they found in the wreckage? A $62 SanDisk card, turns out. And guess what? It was totally fine. Undamaged. The data was still there.
Seriously, when I first read that, my jaw dropped. Here was this vessel, built for super deep dives, that crushed under crazy pressure. And a cheap, everyday memory card just… shrugged it off. It got me thinking, you know? About how tough things can be. About what actually makes it when everything else breaks. It's a pretty wild thought, isn't it? Especially for us folks messing around in programming and webdev.
It got me really buzzing about building tough stuff. Not just fancy, new tech, but the kind of solid, reliable systems that can take a beating and still keep going. Like that SanDisk card, just quietly doing its job. So, I've been looking at my own workflow and the tools I use, trying to figure out what really stands up to the kind of pressure we sometimes put our code under. Here are a few things that memory card made me think about when it comes to building tough tech. I've even done a bit of personal testing, because that's how I roll.
My Top 5 Lessons on Building Tough Code
1. Embrace Boring, Battle-Tested Tools
Ever notice how we're always chasing the shiny new thing? The latest JavaScript framework, the coolest API design pattern. And don't get me wrong, I love new tech. But that SanDisk card? It wasn't some custom, super-expensive piece of kit. It was off-the-shelf, easy to find, and probably made with a huge margin for error. That's a lesson right there.
I've seen so many projects get stuck trying to optimise (oops, nearly used a corporate buzzword there!) with brand new, untested libraries. My personal pick here is using established Open Source tools whenever I can. Think Node.js. I tested a project recently, running on Node 20.9.0, and it just purrs. It's been around, it's had its kinks worked out by thousands of clever people, and it's stable. Another one for me is PostgreSQL. It’s been my go-to for Data Engineering projects for years. It's mature, reliable, and frankly, a bit boring – which is exactly what you want for important data.
I messed this up at first on a side project last year. I tried out a really niche, super new database. Took me 3 hours just to get it running locally without constant ECONNREFUSED errors. After 2 weeks of using it, I scrapped it and went back to Postgres. Honestly, sometimes the tried and true is just better for getting stuff done in the long run.
2. Guard Your Data Like It's Gold (Because It Is!)
If that SanDisk card can survive, then our data should too. This is huge for Data Engineering. I mean, if the data on that card was important, imagine the sigh of relief when they realised it was all there. It really shows how important good data storage and backup plans are. You know what's weird? We spend ages making our apps look pretty, but sometimes the backend data gets less love.
I've been playing around with simple, extra storage solutions. For important project configs, I'm now using Git-based version control for everything, plus daily automated backups to cold storage. It costs about £5/month for small projects, which is nothing compared to losing a week's worth of work. I also make sure my APIs are designed with idempotent operations where it makes sense. That way, if something goes wrong and a request retries, it doesn't mess up the data. It's about being ready for anything, isn't it?
3. Type Safety Isn't Just for Show
This one really hit home when I thought about how a tiny bit of damage on that memory card could've made everything useless. In programming, especially in webdev, small errors can sneak in and totally mess up your day. That's why I'm a massive fan of TypeScript.
I used to be a pure JavaScript dev, and I'd spend ages debugging undefined is not a function errors. Took me forever to figure out some of those type-related bugs. But with TypeScript? It catches so many of those issues before I even run the code. It's like having a built-in error detector that makes your code tougher against unexpected inputs and states. My favourite part is how it makes you think more clearly about your data structures. It