Accidentally destroyed production database on first day of a job

Today was my first day on the job as a Junior Software Developer and was my first non-internship position after university. Unfortunately i screwed up badly.

I was basically given a document detailing how to setup my local development environment. Which involves run a small script to create my own personal DB instance from some test data. After running the command i was supposed to copy the database url/password/username outputted by the command and configure my dev environment to point to that database. Unfortunately instead of copying the values outputted by the tool, i instead for whatever reason used the values the document had.

Unfortunately apparently those values were actually for the production database (why they are documented in the dev setup guide i have no idea). Then from my understanding that the tests add fake data, and clear existing data between test runs which basically cleared all the data from the production database. Honestly i had no idea what i did and it wasn't about 30 or so minutes after did someone actually figure out/realize what i did.
While what i had done was sinking in. The CTO told me to leave and never come back. He also informed me that apparently legal would need to get involved due to severity of the data loss. I basically offered and pleaded to let me help in someway to redeem my self and i was told that i "completely fucked everything up".

So i left. I kept an eye on slack, and from what i can tell the backups were not restoring and it seemed like the entire dev team was on full on panic mode. I sent a slack message to our CTO explaining my screw up. Only to have my slack account immediately disabled not long after sending the message.

I haven't heard from HR, or anything and i am panicking to high heavens. I just moved across the country for this job, is there anything i can even remotely do to redeem my self in this situation? Can i possibly be sued for this? I am really confused, and terrified.

>>>/reddit/

I think you're better suited to the retail industry.

That dude is on so much cocaine.

i think he's about to shit his pants

I never fully trust these reddit stories. That karma system motivates people even more to make up crazy stories.

Post some proof OP.

It's not your fault honestly, you should have pointed out how retarded it is to put production keys in a fucking onboarding document, and expect nothing bad to happen.

And if the backups were broken in the first place, you saved them a lot of trouble down the line, now they know their backup setup is retarded too.

They should be thanking you really.

Counter sue them for mental anguish caused by their training and setup system

you followed the instructions (almost)

it's not your fault they give everybody write access to their database (and even less that they don't have working backups)

but yeah, they can fire you as you only just started.

>Unfortunately apparently those values were actually for the production database (why they are documented in the dev setup guide i have no idea).
Seems smart to give a literal rookie those keys and a script that deletes fucking everything.

>the backups were not restoring
That's also smart.

They obviously should've had any sort of training, not give you those keys if you weren't told how to use them properly, and they should've had actual backups.

You're lying OP, but on the off-chance that you're not, there are so many things wrong with this that aren't you:
- Dev setup needing copying things by hand
- Dev setup needing to copy production data (customer data protection on top of the general shittyness of this)
- Not having an experienced dev to work with
- Not having a backup
- Not running the production DB in a completely isolated environment such that this kind of fuckup-ery could even get close to happening

The American way.

Also this. You wouldn't be at that job for long. A company that makes that many retarded mistakes and then blames the rookie/intern is not worth your time.

Just have your fingers crossed and hope you don't get sued for this, because even if they don't crush you (which they can just by having more money than you) you'll gain the reputation of being completely inept and no other company will hire you.

Wish you all the best OP.

>no backups
Good.

>is there anything i can even remotely do to redeem my self in this situation?
Nope, this is something you should never mention again.
>Can i possibly be sued for this?
Unlikely, as there was no way for you to know the prod DB credentials without using their 'guide'. They would need to prove malice to the judge to win the case, considering it was your first day, it is near impossible to prove this.

Legally, you are good but yes, the job is gone.

>is there anything i can even remotely do to redeem my self in this situation?
No
>Can i possibly be sued for this?
Yes, but it's not very likely

You can't get sued if you live in a different state at an unknown location

I doubt any judge would support them in this case anyways, that's their fault

>is there anything i can even remotely do to redeem my self in this situation?

Start interviewing for other positions (preferably, in other states where people don't know who you are) immediately and try your best to pretend that entire situation never happened.

2bh they deserve it if they have no working backups

why not posting the reddit link and just give a quick rundown?

anyway, if i were the company, i would write a medium post naming the faggot, so he can't get hired anymore in IT for the rest of his life

Maybe you fucked up, user. But remember .... THEY are the ones who don't have backups.

Maybe you're in legal shit, I don't know. I think there's something to be said regarding this was a pure accident. You read the wrong shit and shit got fucked. This could have been prevented from higher up.

Give them the ol' "Just a prank bro"

>is there anything i can even remotely do to redeem my self in this situation?
Sure: write a blog post about this, some people reading it will probably be interested in hiring you.

Not having a backup and handing out keys from databsse to a newcomer is a total mess.

>Maybe you're in legal shit, I don't know.
It can't be the case unless it's included in some kind of agreement that worker is responsible for whatever loss he directly caused.

>Unfortunately instead of copying the values outputted by the tool, i instead for whatever reason used the values the document had.
>Unfortunately apparently those values were actually for the production database
Nice story but no

> i instead for whatever reason used the values the document had
> Unfortunately apparently those values were actually for the production database
LOL!!!
> Can i possibly be sued for this?
I don't know laws in your country, but it seems the company was fucked anyway:
> the backups were not restoring

I call fake, but it it isn't:
They basically made you do the job a sysadmin should've done. Next to that, they gave you credentials that allowed you access to sensitive parts of a system, which is insane in any case, except you were a junior so they should've known better. And last, they tied their own noose when they decided to not have backups with such a backwards way of doing things.

As for legal charges, they made themselves very vulnerable to data loss, which is not your fault. What happened to you was an accident, and could've and would've happened at some point anyway. That and is correct, you can't be held accountable unless it is very specifically noted in your contract/agreement.

OP is a faggot. He copied this /r/cscareerquestions, front page ATM.
This guy has it.

Stop replying to this thread.

How do you know this?
Faggot redditor go back to Sup Forums

...

...

I really hope things go well for you, user. Keep us updated on whatever happens

see

>I haven't heard from HR, or anything and i am panicking to high heavens.
yeah, because they know you would say the magic words "i've followed the manual" and then the CTO would get his ass blasted. you'll never hear from them again.

Is this a things that never happened post? (It's giving me a heart-attack regardless.)

STOP REPLYING TO THIS THREAD

SEE KEK. THIS HAS SPREAD TO /r/best of and hacker news now.


OP just copied it from leddit.

Not everyone here browses reddit you faggot. How the hell was I supposed to know this is pasta from there? I just replied to the OP, chill the fuck out.

Complete horseshit.

Regardless of the outcome it sounds like you were working with a bunch of retards. I mean, anyone in that kind of environment should test their backups, they should definitely not be putting all the credentials and information needed to access the production database in any kind of training guide, and really they shouldn't even be putting trainees on the same network, it's easy as fuck to set up a vlan or a separate test network.

If that's any consolation, it's their fault.

Depending on the state if youre in the US you could easily counter sue if they try and sue you. Sounds completely unprofessional the way they let you go

>no backup
Their own fault. Also I don't believe it for that reason.

Whoever designed the procedure for new hires is a moron. Whoever designed the backup strategy is a moron.

>Can i possibly be sued for this?

Depends entirely on the state your in, the business entity type you worked for (corporation vs llc vs partnership) and several other factors. They may even be in trouble for firing you without giving you a formal notification in writing. State business and employment laws are really a pain in the ass.

>intern at business law firm

This. I know these is just a cross post from reddit BUT the biggest mistake that moron made wasn't deleting the database. It was him admitting fault in the email to his supervisors.

What a moron. They are entirely in the wrong and he's groveling like a bitch.

>Be me
>Run software development department
>Decide against wasting time on taking, maintaining and verifying back ups because nothing has gone wrong yet, why would it? Im the best!
>Decide against having a shared development DB, db's cost money, so Ill save on that
>don't have a test db, so I'll put our single live and delicate DB'S details in the tutorials we hand to the Tards on their first day
>Hire new scrote
>Looks a little unclean, not sure if he's up to scratch
>Day 1, hand him master user credentials for our precious central and only DB.
>he better not fuck up. But we only hire the best, so he can't fuck up.
>he fucks up
>Whole db gone
>No back ups
>Definitely his fault alone. Fire him and problem is solved.

It sounds like you did yourself a favour. Who ever was managing you wants you gone because they fucked up and now their superiors will want their head, not yours.
Do you blame the dog for shitting on your lawn, or the owner for telling it to?

Also, stack overflow has a HR section. Post this shit there, those guys are based.

Sounds like they suck, you should be happy your not associated with them anymore OP.

Sounds like a startup to be honest that has no idea what they are doing. They probably have a developer that's used digital ocean 3 times in the past acting as the "sysadmin" and they wonder why there environment is completely fucked up and the backups don't work. I have seen this time and time again (I consult a lot of startups).

They told you to leave but didn't officially fire you? Sue for wrongful termination get lawyer and start sueing now!

Companies don't sue poor people. In that regard, you are safe.

It goes without saying but I'll say it anyway, you don't put this on your resume.

Never apply, speak, write, call, text or otherwise contact that company in any way.

You fucked up. Walk away: there is nothing you can do. Move on.

You are a retard. Once you fucked up you shut have shut the fuck up. Every documented message you sent pleading to help or apologizing will now be used against you in court.

+1 karme from me dudereedooo

This scenario isn't uncommon. I was given a bug in an old access system to fix once. After I fixed it my boss told me to test it right away. I looked at the settings and it was connected to production. I told him that and he was like oh yea change that. If I didn't check I could have got in some shit not as bad as OP though

>you just did a hackers job for him

ah, the ol' social engineering. Human error.

Fuckin hell OP you sound like me.

I will do everything 99% right but always fuck up the 1% that is "so simple" and ruin everything.

already realize this is a repost, but seriously, when I hear something like

>The CTO told me to leave and never come back. He also informed me that apparently legal would need to get involved due to severity of the data loss.

I fucking laugh my ass off. Getting legal involved to """prosecute""" a brand new employee for an accident. That's just the CTO desperately looking to lash out at his own/company's incompetence by the most serious empty threats he can muster.
getting fucking "legal" involved. top kek

Back to plebbit you fuckin fag!

>The CTO told me to leave and never come back. He also informed me that apparently legal would need to get involved due to severity of the data loss.

Law suits don't play out like you hear on the news or see in the movies. Sure they can try to sue you for millions of dollars, but they can really only attain your current net-worth. If the only thing you own is a $1000 200k mile Honda Civic, a Laptop, and some clothes I wouldn't be too concerned. It would cost more in lawyer fees to sue you then what they'd get out of it.

what in the actual fuck are you talking about?

what basis do they even have in a situation like that?

you realize that people are prosecuted for CRIMES right? this was a new hire following directions per specification by the employer.

The people running that company are idiots. Why are even giving you production credentials in the first place?

We're talking about a junior dev here, not a seasoned professional. The only thing that medium post will do is tell the world how inept this company is.

Normally, employees wouldn't have these types of credentials on hand, regardless of rank, and would have to go through hoops or a service to make changes to the db. I mean having credentials in teaching docs? what the actual fuck!

>all these idiots biting

why the fuck would a junior software dev have uninhibited access to a critical production database

you should probably get fired for being a retard but they should probably kill themselves for also being retarded

>copying reddit posts

wtf I hate this story now.
I was really into the OP's post but now I'm hearing that somebody already posted this on reddit
wtf

why on earth would anybody want to take content from one site and post it on another? that shits unfathomable and frankly rude

>production settings in documentation
Serves them good. It was waiting to happen, OP just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

he should just show up at work tomorrow and see what happens. it would probably be smart to have some kind of voice recorder running so he can actually sue for wrongful termination and actually make some money.

im sorry this happened to you fren, you were incredibly unlucky and you shouldnt blame yourself desu

not much you can do though, just move on and try to find a new job :(

As usual, it's ironic because you'd have to be using reddit to know it's from reddit in the first place

2 things: Obviously production credentials shouldn't have been in the instructions for setting up your dev database.

Second:
>What are backups?
>What are transaction logs?
This being more than a temporary issue shouldn't be possible if you have a competent DB system, and/or admin.

Granted, that's pretty fucking retarded of you anyway. Maybe always double check your in the right DB in the future.

First post was OK for once. It's clearly not the guys fault.

Thanks user. I was writing a detailed blind reply with pretty much exactly what redditfag said before seeing this. OP needs to drink some bleach.