The Red Console

A Field Guide to Fixing Things for
Developers Who Hate Broken Stuff

What Do a 56k Modem, a Swiss Chalet Chicken,
and a BlackBerry Outage Have in Common?

They all taught me how to debug the unfixable.

Troubleshooting isn't about knowing every line of code; it's about a way of thinking. It's about realizing that when the waitress says “Chickens aren't in season,” she's just relaying a bad error message. It's about knowing that when a payment processor throws “Error 10000,” the black box is lying to you.

This book is a collection of disasters, triumphs, and hard-earned lessons from a life in the tech trenches. Whether you are a CS student staring at a blank screen, a “Vibe Coder” relying on AI, or a pro looking for a laugh, this field guide will change the way you look at a red error message.

There is no magic. There is only logic, patience, and the occasional rubber duck.