# The Joy of Old-School Coding After a Stupid Mistake

> Source: <https://dev.to/canro91/the-joy-of-old-school-coding-after-a-stupid-mistake-36mb>
> Published: 2026-08-24 05:00:00+00:00

The other day, it happened again.

I had an error message that [made me scratch my head](https://canro91.github.io/2025/12/09/Debugging).

For a moment, I thought, *"God, why am I doing this? I should start a garden or something."*

I copy-pasted the error message into Google.

StackOverflow didn't help that much.

I was [tempted to go to Copilot](https://canro91.github.io/2025/07/13/TheProblemWithAI).

But I held my horses.

A few moments later, *"Oooohh, here it is!"*

A one-line code change fixed it.

Stupid Entity Framework Core!

I was in a rush a few days before and I missed a small detail:

I used a collection to [map a one-to-one relationship](https://canro91.github.io/2026/03/11/OneToOne).

Simple! I know. Only integration tests caught it.

For a moment, an error message made me want to quit.

A second later, I was back in the game.

Yet again. For the nth time.

I guess AI doesn't give you that feeling—or does it?

*Whether you code the old way or with AI, check out Street-Smart Coding—It covers debugging, testing, and many 28 more lessons to help you code like a pro.*