08/05/2026
Some years back, I was filling a form on a $1.5B valuation text company which has become a unicorn as far back as 2021.
The company's service is to train and connect Software engineers with companies in the North America, and Western Europe, etc.
You know what?
Trying to submit the form on their website was showing me an error message saying "invalid email address".
Invalid email address for where? My goodness! This email is correct.
You know when you are filling a form on your mobile device, and you type the first few characters of your previously used email address, and your mobile keyboard auto-complete and you press/select the complete email address from the suggestion?
Yes, that's that's it.
But as a Developer myself, I already know what's up.
You know, I reviewed many codebases like this and checked many validation for edge cases like such.
What happened was that, their Engineers did not trim the extra spaces around the input value for the text form field.
Therefore, their app/website is seeing the extra space at the front of the email in the text box as a valid character, and their email field validation is throwing back the error.
I cleared the extra space and the form was submitted.
The point in this story is that most junior or mid-level engineers who have not been opportune to work with big firms always assume that once a company is big, then, they have the best engineers in the world, or that the engineers there can't make simple and obvious mistakes.
No. It doesn't work that way.
When you review your codes and find some small but avoidable bugs, and you are about doubting your own ability. Don't do that.
Own up the mistake, fix it, and take responsibility not to repeat such mistake another time.
If a $1.5B tech company that trains, interviews, and places Software engineers around the world can commit a subtle error of form field input validation, then it means you are not doing so bad.
And mind you, this is not making a case for irresponsibility or mediocrity. But I know you already get the point.
Code and ship responsibly.
__ If you need an experienced Software Engineer and Product Architect on your team for an amazing project, don't hesitate to send me a DM. __
Ige Fadele
__ I build and distribute quality and enterprise-grade software and digital solutions at scale. __