Debugging code (especially others') is one of the most heinous activities on this planet. I have lost years of my life fixing what others have created broken (intentionally and otherwise). Years and special occasions that I can never get back because some moron's mission-critical code decided to break, with the ultimatum that no one could leave for $(Holiday of Choice) until fixed.
It's because of having to debug that I left development and went into a different area of technology. TDD is the only reason I even consider doing ANY development now.
People who enjoy debugging are the ones I hope work themselves into obsolescence.
Personal time lost to fixing problems can always be annoying. However, not all debugging situations are like that.
There is something terribly satisfying about digging into a problem on a production system that rears its ugly head once a month (requiring a system to be rebooted), brainstorming, setting up test scenarios, getting the bug reproduced, finding the source of the problem, fixing it, testing it and seeing that it has been nailed! (oh, and equally satisfying is seeing the days of uptime on said machine thereafter measured in 3 digit numbers :-D)
And the problem I have in mind was someone elses code. I still enjoyed every minute of the debugging process.
I can see why missing a holiday would suck, but you don't see the appeal of having a relatively confined and well-defined problem to solve? I find a good debugging very soothing after long stretches of greenfield development. Mind you, I don't want to miss a holiday over it, and I'd rather go and build new shit all day most days, but reality is, you have to debug sometimes, and you might as well take whatever satisfaction you can from the process.
I, too, very much enjoy debugging at times. There is something very satisfying about digging deep into some code base and coming out triumphant with that elusive single-line fix. It makes you feel like you are smarter than the code's author.
That said, other times it can be really annoying, too.
Debugging code (especially others') is one of the most heinous activities on this planet. I have lost years of my life fixing what others have created broken (intentionally and otherwise). Years and special occasions that I can never get back because some moron's mission-critical code decided to break, with the ultimatum that no one could leave for $(Holiday of Choice) until fixed.
It's because of having to debug that I left development and went into a different area of technology. TDD is the only reason I even consider doing ANY development now.
People who enjoy debugging are the ones I hope work themselves into obsolescence.