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“Don’t Test Me, I’m Already Broken”: 30 Hilarious Memes From This Online Group For Programmers
Being a programmer can be pretty cool. Although writing perfect code can sometimes drive you mad, it's the path that will inevitably lead you to build your own app at some point. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were just a little short of 2 million software developers, quality assurance analysts, and testers in 2023.
A portion of these specialists probably frequents the Programming Memes subreddit, as it documents their struggles with such relatability and hilarity that it's often hard to look away even for non-programmers. So, whether you've had the pleasure of debugging or not, you'll probably find this collection of programming memes engaging nonetheless.
More info: Reddit
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#1
May Offend Some People
RELATED:
#2
I Am The It Department
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
I always refused administration duties. I was a code-monkey, not a box-monkey!
Michael Largey 3 weeks ago
When my students asked if being head of the math department made me an administrator, I replied. "I'm no administrator. I work for a living."
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#3
Lowkey The Dream
Søs Stougaard Rasmussen 3 weeks ago
Guess he had some unpaid medical bills?😉
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It seems like just a few years ago everyone and their mom were pivoting careers to become coders, engineers, and developers. As the mobile app market soared, coding was the most beneficial skill to learn, not to mention an attractive career for many introverted loners and connoisseurs of the early internet.
Yet, today, there are fewer programmers in the U.S. than there ever were since 1980. The data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics but is rather curious because other computer-related occupations, like software developers, haven't been experiencing such a decline.
#4
So Very True
B Hobbs 3 weeks ago
Friends help you move. Good friends help you move bodies. Besties kick the body and say, "Not so smart now, a s s h o l e!"
Rachel Reynolds 3 weeks ago (edited)
god forbid you remove that comment. the code will stop working.
Michael Largey 3 weeks ago
I use code comments a lot - to avoid dumb questions later. Particularly my own.
#5
Oh Caroline!!
Tucker Cahooter 3 weeks ago
Worse is when it says "expected ;". Well if the semicolon is missing just put it in!
Don't listen to me 2 weeks ago
Even worse. Unexpected spaces following the delimiter, on multiple lines.
#6
As A Backend Engineer, Can Confirm
crashthegreenhat 3 days ago
How did you get the screenshot of the code for the website I developed in college?
First, it's useful to define what exactly the difference is between programmers and other "computer-related" jobs. Take software developers, for example: their job description is often broader, involving planning and vision.
Programmers ("coders" is also an appropriate term to use) are usually behind the mechanics of writing code, testing, and debugging. Software developers, on the other hand, meet with other departments to discuss strategy, plan design, and set goals. Programmers are the ones who carry out the tasks to reach those goals.
#7
Professional Googler With Coding Skills
nottheactualphoto 3 weeks ago
Of course. Who can keep mental track of the quirks and syntax of ${LANGUAGE}?
Tucker Cahooter 3 weeks ago
Is the first parameter of the VBA Instr function the string to search or the string to find? I have used it thousands of times and each time I have to Google it because I can never remember
Sue User 3 weeks ago
My BIGGEST pet peeve with MS. Between VBA and excel functions the parameters switch.
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Apatheist Account2 3 weeks ago
This is why I never wanted to learn R. Too many words have R in them.
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
Of course we do. Even those of us who write the stuff you need to find will be searching for something else another minute. Nobody has done everything!
Tim Douglass 2 weeks ago
I was a programmer long before Google. The best source of information was the guy in the next cubicle who didn't actually know any more than you did but was a clear step up from the rubber duck. I had stacks of language reference manuals not to mention a few specialized books on sorting and indexing. Database work was a *lot* more complicated before SQL!
#8
This Is Software Development About, Apparently
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
When I started, we had to painstakingly retype code printed poorly in magazine articles....
Billo66 3 weeks ago (edited)
O'Reillys coding books helped me a lot. Linux Network Admin was very helpful. They are kind of hard to muddle through though. Almost too much information. Edit: I was rather proud when I had to explain to the ATT tech guy how to build classless reverse delegation into the router so my static IP addresses would resolve properly. :)
Cristi nah 2 weeks ago
When you realized you used the example data of the tutorial instead of your real data
#9
Believe Them
BeesEelsAndPups 3 weeks ago
No if I tell you it's one hour, it's really just a one line code change. If I tell you it's one day, it's probably 8-10 hours. If I tell you it's one week, I'm not sure, but it'll be done by the end of the sprint. If I tell you it's one month, I will need at least a week to figure out what needs to be done
Rosecrucian Roeth 2 weeks ago
If a programmer tells you that they will fix it right away.......................you're screwed!
Because of the nature of their work, there has been a lot of speculation that AI is going to replace programmers. We'll get to whether that's really true later, but it's important to mention that programming can be the occupation in which workers rely on AI tools the most.
AI startup Anthropic recently analyzed the use of AI among people in many different fields, from phlebotomists, professional drivers, and computer scientists. They found that programmers used their AI chatbot Claude the most. Software developers came in second, above more than 700 other occupations.
#10
If It Works It's Not Stupid
eMp Tee 2 weeks ago
I recently asked MS Copilot to write a C# funcion to export data to a .CSV file. The code looks impressive but I have yet to write the code needed to call it and see if it melts my computer ...
Slmd 2 weeks ago
It's going to be the most unoptimised thing you have ever seen lolol Worse than a WYSIWYG editor using a thousand   XD
Load More Replies... #11
Cat Debugs For Life
#12
Cobol Stands The Test Of Time
Glix Drap 3 weeks ago (edited)
I programmed in Cobol using punched cards once. I never got over it but I did learn how to spell environment.
WFH Forever 2 weeks ago
Ah punch cards. Now that brings back memories....
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B Hobbs 3 weeks ago (edited)
Junior dev, "All these Alters appear to not be needed in this COBOL program." Senior dev, "We think that was Johnson's little joke. But the program works so we do not change it." Junior, "Oh, maybe I should talk to Johnson about cleaning it up." Senior, "You will find Johnson is in the sub-level." Junior, "I did not know that we had a basement." Senior, "We do not. Get a Ouija board."
B Hobbs 3 weeks ago
I am pretty sure there is still a lot of COBOL humming along out there. There probably are some senior software engineers telling junior programmers, "Touch that code and I will bloody this steel programmer's ruler!"
Cristi nah 2 weeks ago
My city suburban train monitors that show the next stops runs in Windows 95
Gordon Guitar 2 weeks ago
If it weren't for crumbling IBM 360s we wouldn't have a banking system. also I got paid 125.00 / hr to fix COBOL during the millennium scare. Did you think I should have told them?
While that may seem a bit bleak and discouraging, experts aren't so quick to give in to the "AI is going to steal our jobs" rhetoric. A researcher at Anthropic, Alex Tamkin, told The Washington Post that people use AI to help them with repetitive tasks instead of asking it to automate them. "Usage tilts more towards augmentation — which is things like having the AI check your work, asking questions to teach you things, iterating on a piece of work — rather than automation."
#13
When The Code Is A Mess
#14
Literally Any New Task Looks Like This:
B Hobbs 3 weeks ago
Seems to be true for many new systems. Last century, I worked with DEC VMS and there was the, I think, blue wall of documentation followed by the orange wall, then grey. I think PDFs were next. IBM MVT was similar, lots of documentation. Languages each had two thick manuals: the Language Reference which explained in detail each language statement, and the Programming Guide which explained how to use the statements for various tasks. Now it appears that third parties supply most of the detailed documentation for a price - some of that is about the quality of the image (pounding four pegs into three holes). Youngsters have no idea what quality documentation looks like. Sigh.
Tim Douglass 2 weeks ago
DEC had some of the best manuals ever. Started on RSTS-e, moved to VAX/VMS. Always great manuals.
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Michael Largey 3 weeks ago (edited)
When every teacher got a computer on their desk for the first time, I had to explain to any Theology staff who asked what RTFM meant that it stood for "Read The Fact-filled Manual". (Ok, you look Sister Mary Angela Aloysius in the face and tell her what the "F" actually stands for. She carries that ruler around for a reason.)
#15
Real
BeesEelsAndPups 3 weeks ago
Facts. In 25 years I've only had to use Windows at one job. It was a .Net dev role, but I was so happy to come home to my Linux boxes.
Lazy Panda 2 3 weeks ago
Linux user for years, had to switch back to windows. Spent the first three months baffled, then just got on with it. Miss Linux (red hat).
Billo66 3 weeks ago
Years ago when the P3 1000 processor was new, I had a linux box co-located on a T1 running eggdrop bots, Irc accounts, Q3 servers, web, that stuff. After a few years I brought it home to use and within 10 minutes of installing windows it caught fire LOL
Patsy Robins 2 weeks ago
I’m not a programmer or in IT & know nothing about coding, but god, I hate everything Microsoft!
Beth Wheeler 2 weeks ago
I've never used Linux, never even seen it. Oooooooh I wonder if it would make EPIC easier for all of us that have to use and hate it. I've been a medical scheduler for a little over 26 years and it takes longer to schedule in EPIC than it did in GE. To schedule a new patient you literally have to open the providers template to make sure what it shows us really is a new patient opening.
Still, many job ads for programmers today will most likely include requirements to at least be able to apply AI tools. In other, more extreme cases, companies will lay off workers and replace them with the technology. Earlier this year, recruiting companies Indeed and Glassdoor decided to lay off 1,300 of their workers while planning to embrace AI.
#16
AKA Vibe Coders
crashthegreenhat 3 days ago
In college I had a Java course. I had one assignment that would not compile to matter what. I don't remember the error it gave, but it was very generic. Sent my source to the teacher to try since they couldn't see anything wrong when they checked it, same issue for them. They actually printed out the code and red penned it and found NOTHING. Literally no reason for it to not work. The logic worked, the code was correct. It just did not work.
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#17
Finding A Tech Job In 2025 Be Like:
#18
—a Brief History Of Web Development—
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago (edited)
Jeah, let's completely miss out JavaScript and Java, shall we? Noobs!
The CEO of the parent company of both Indeed and Glassdoor, Hisayuki "Deko" Idekoba, explained that one-third of their company's new programming code is currently written by AI. In the near future, they expect that to be 50%. And Indeed and Glassdoor aren't the only companies relying on AI to write their code. Last year, Google bragged about how 25% of their code was written by AI.
#19
Learning vs. Forgetting
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
But learning TO code is never forgotten. Real programmers understand the difference.
Ace 3 weeks ago
When I was a programmer we would always distinguish between design and coding. Learned a design methodology (Jackson Structured Programing) to design really complex stuff. Later on when the term 'coding' came into use we would look down on mere 'coders' who needed someone else to design the program for them.
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I Wish This Was The Case
#21
They Dont Know🤷♂️
Some experts believe that AI may take the jobs of entry-level programmers. Still, being a programmer is not just writing code: you have to be able to solve problems creatively and have some years of expertise to be able to read code. Computer scientist James Stanger explained to Business Insider that it's still too hard to take the human out of the equation. "AI can't support what it doesn't know," he believes. "I still don't think that it is something that can fully replace a good developer."
#23
That's Impressive
#24
Hallo Welt
Basically, the more experience you have as a programmer, the more staying power you'll have in this AI apocalypse. In the case of software engineers, those with seven years or more of experience were sought after more often in the last two years. Their job listings comprised 40% of all open software engineering roles. For entry-level developers, it was only 20%.
#25
You Have 10 Seconds
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
Yup. HTML isn't programming, it's configuration. I used to write code to generate the HTML for my website, because I was lazy 😎. XSLT, however? Now that's coding!
B Hobbs 3 weeks ago
I am not certain but is it that dad does not consider writing HTML as programing? I wonder what he thinks of TeX or JCL?
Ace 3 weeks ago
Hah! I could still write JCL (JES3, though, never did JES2) in my sleep. CLIST, Rexx, then later Posix, all called "languages", but all "not really programming".
Load More Replies... #26
For Real
#27
Front End Dev 😂
Laura Lawson 3 weeks ago
That sounds like the program we are asked to use in the large, nation-wide company I work for. In the past 18 months it has NEVER worked properly for a day! Part of my role is encouraging (telling) people to use it & training new people on it and I loathe it with every fibre of my being. One of the devs told me that HO wanted it out despite it not being ready & now it's being held together with chicken wire, duct tape & blu tac. The sad thing is, it really could have been a fantastic tool for us IF it was done before release. By the time it's actually working, we'll need something new.
nottheactualphoto 3 weeks ago
Ugh. Corporate management: Let's destroy our own reputation by releasing an alpha. IQ < hat size.
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But let us take your mind off all this doom and gloom about artificial intelligence, coder Pandas. Have fun scrolling through these relatable and funny pics while you drink your third energy drink of the night. And if you're up for more programming memes, check out our previous lists here and here!
#28
Things Only Real Programers Do
B Hobbs 3 weeks ago
George, our system operator, would take about ten minutes a day to write up the parameters to run into our antique payroll system. He had been doing it for years, probably decades. After the New Years break, he used the wrong year. Took about three days to undo the damage. George was horrified and apologized profusely. I spent about two weeks developing a program to generate the daily parameters. I found out that no one else really knew how to generate the daily payroll parameters except George. George retired about 18 months later. Yeah, sometimes taking ten days to automate a ten minute task can be a good thing. Then again, I have also optimized throw away code just because I could.
Rick Murray 3 weeks ago
But once it has been automated, it doesn't ever need to be done again.
Apatheist Account2 3 weeks ago
I tried merging two SPSS datasets using our new OO language, and it ran for about 4 hours. Using the SPSS software manually, clicking on merge cases, took about 4 seconds.
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
Well, of course. But I had to do that task 100 times a day. So I've saved months of work. This is actually how I realised that I needed to take up programming instead of accounting.
#29
Guys, Is Google Trolling Me?
David Paterson 3 weeks ago
PMSL. vi is coming up to its 50th birthday. And I still don't use emacs.
Ace 3 weeks ago
I still use (sorry, always used) whatever is the best available editor. It was _never_ vi or emacs. Or Vim.
Load More Replies... Apatheist Account2 3 weeks ago
Vim is great. Magic brackets are a wonder - impenetrable at first, then indispensable after.
BeesEelsAndPups 3 weeks ago
Emacs is an entire operating system. Vim is a text editor. When I want to edit text, I use vim. When I want to use an operating system I use Debian mostly. Sometimes BSD or RHEL.
#30
Haha True
#31
I Have Been Attacked
nottheactualphoto 3 weeks ago
The best T-shirt has the logo of a company that folded before opening.
Michael Largey 3 weeks ago
True. The best free stuff is from companies who don't figure out they can't afford it until after they've given it to you.
Load More Replies... Pferdchen 3 weeks ago
But, if you had to sit through a pitch, were they really free? Best shirt and best pitch award goes to Reflections, a terminal emulator package. It has been 40 years and I vaguely recall the pitch, drilled in by gleeful repetition. Main point was five words ending with "-ility." The only ones I recall are versatility, portability & reliability,
Load More Replies... #32
Just A Simple Boolean Question
Glix Drap 3 weeks ago
I often used closed questions when I want to irritate someone. A closed question is a question that restricts the respondent to one of "yes" or "no".
#33
Set Age As Primary Key😂
Michael Largey 3 weeks ago
Or the reverse. I was registering at a site where you scrolled down to highlight your birth year. The scrolling stopped before it reached mine. Does that mean I'm legally dead?
#34
The Actual Reason Behind My Hairfall🙂
#35
True
Pferdchen 3 weeks ago (edited)
I beat my head against the wall with a programming logic challenge one day. Went home, took a bath that evening. As I was absentmindedly playing with drops of water from the faucet with my big toe, the solution came to me 🤣 Sometimes, the best way to solve a problem is to walk away for a while. It might be a funnier story if I said I got my toe stuck in the faucet (which I did not).
#36
Once U’ve Experienced Something Like This
Rick Murray 3 weeks ago
I wrote some of my best code when passing time wiped out with flu and barely functional, but I was bored and hurt and... I don't touch it, I don't go near it. I have no idea how it works, it just does and since it's in C it does some horrific looking pointer voodoo and frequent inline assembler but...it works. I tried to replace the entire function with something written properly. Took easily twice as long to do the job.
Ace 3 weeks ago
Yeah, similarly my post-pub Friday afternoon work was some of my best...
Load More Replies... David Paterson 3 weeks ago (edited)
Any sufficiently advanced code is indistinguishable from a rigged demo. You know the global warming code used to compute climate change - rigged demo. Don't look under the hood, just don't.
Load More Replies... Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
She's scratching her head and reaching for Google too, I'm afraid!
nottheactualphoto 3 weeks ago
I have sometimes gone to upgrade old code, only to say "who wrote this garbage? Oh wait, I did."
#38
😂
#39
Sup Ladies
#40
Hehe Really
Ace 3 weeks ago
I've actually design and written whole systems to produce mark-up languages.
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#42
Extra Space
#44
That Will Do The Trick
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
Java? Ha! Try something difficult like C! No variables longer than 3 characters for fun.
#46
Pikachu++
Hyacinth (Any pronouns) 3 weeks ago
The Pokémon: Ditto, Sawk, Vulpix, Feebas, Evans, Metapod, Onyx.
David Paterson 3 weeks ago
The only programming languages there are R, python, javascript, c#, and c++.
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#47
Guess Or 💀
#48
A New State Of Matter
nottheactualphoto 3 weeks ago
Microsoft used to "embrace and extend." Now they "purchase and enshittify."
#50
Where Is Backup?
Michael Largey 2 weeks ago (edited)
Our school entrusted its entire student records system - grades, credits, everything - to a cloud storage company. We're were assured there would be backups of backups of backups to the nth degree. One sunny August afternoon, they all crashed. Everything had to be re-entered by hand.
#51
Inside Of Each Programmer
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
Third wolf: Quit your job, and set up your own company to do the same thing for 5 times the price. Worked great for me!
#56
Which Algorithm Is This
Astrobloom (they/them) 3 weeks ago
I asked ChatGPT just now. It got it correct. Your jobs are no longer safe. Run for your lives /j
#57
Based On A True Story
Zig Zag Wanderer 3 weeks ago
Then pay me unfeasibly large amounts of money to change it into a database for use in a program. Based on dozens of true stories!
#58
C-Serract
#59
Still Better Than Nothing
#62
Don't Test Me, I'm Already Broken 😭
SlothyK8 3 weeks ago
QAs are very special people. It takes a certain kind of mind to try to break things all the time in new and unforeseen ways.
timbsaan 2 weeks ago
No, just an expectation things aren't as projected. Devs project; QA expects. And seldom the twain shall meet. All respect for the few orgs that still employ a QA team on the front line of quality.
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#63
The Law Of Programming Be Like
B Hobbs 3 weeks ago
Last century, I started using ii and jj instead. Searching for i or j is a pain.
Ace 3 weeks ago
Any loop using them should be easily possible to see from the indented code. You do indent all your code to the nth level, don't you?
Load More Replies... David Paterson 3 weeks ago
It was the default for Fortran 4 in the year 1962. Backwards compatibility.
Ace 3 weeks ago
i was for integer, that's why. In some early languages an undeclared variable could acquire a default type, so using i as a loop counter became universal. (and j, k etc. would also default to integer)
timbsaan 2 weeks ago
Cool to know - I always presumed "I" was for index, as in indexing the count. They both work, but your explanation makes more sense. (Alternately, as a math guy, I figured we'd used up all the good letters already, and comp-sci folks were left with the crappy ones, like "j". {Shudders 😁}}
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#66
Here's Something That I've Never Done:
David Paterson 3 weeks ago
Um, this actually works. When it comes to using web based software.
#68
Programmers Be Like
#73
Frack Around And Find Out
David Paterson 3 weeks ago
"I use my software on Linux, but it will run on Windows if you like."
#76
;
Ace 3 weeks ago
It's his forehead that's wrong. Leave the semi-colon and redo all the rest of the code.
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#79
Am I The Only One?😂
Rick Murray 3 weeks ago
Don't go near dates, it's nightmare fuel. See link in following comment.
#80
Something False
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TotallyNOTAFox 3 weeks ago
I remember learning the basics of Java - before switching to business college after 2 weeks
TotallyNOTAFox 3 weeks ago
I remember learning the basics of Java - before switching to business college after 2 weeks
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