The 7-Hour Bug Hunt That Taught Me Everything About Async/Await

Hey dev.to community! 👋
Ever had one of those bugs that makes you question your entire existence as a developer? Yeah, me too. Let me tell you about the night I almost rage-quit programming over a single word.
The Setup 🏗️
I was building a simple e-commerce app:

Frontend: React with hooks
Backend: Node.js + Express
Payment: Razorpay integration
Problem: Everything worked... except the final payment step

The Bug From Hell 🐛
Users could browse, add to cart, fill details, but when they hit "Pay Now" - BOOM - white screen of death. No error messages, no console logs, nothing. Just a blank page laughing at my misery.

javascript// This is what I thought was working fine
const handlePayment = () => {
setLoading(true);
processPayment(paymentData)
.then(response => {
setLoading(false);
setPaymentSuccess(true);
})
.catch(error => {
setLoading(false);
setError(error.message);
});
};
The 7-Hour Journey of Despair 😤
Hour 1-2: "It's probably a typo"

Checked semicolons ✓
Verified imports ✓
Cleared cache ✓
Still broken ❌

Hour 3-4: "Maybe it's the payment gateway?"

Tested API separately - worked perfectly ✓
Payment was processing correctly ✓
Money getting deducted in test mode ✓
UI still breaking ❌

Hour 5-6: "Am I even a real developer?"

Googled every variation of "react payment white screen"
Went through 47 Stack Overflow threads
Even asked ChatGPT for help - it gave me a 20-step debugging checklist
Tried every single suggestion: cleared cache, checked CORS, verified API keys, tested different browsers
All the AI suggestions were technically correct but missed the actual problem
Questioned my career choices
Considered becoming a chai vendor

Hour 7: The moment of truth
The Eureka Moment 💡
At 2 AM, completely by accident, I opened Chrome DevTools network tab and noticed something weird:

Payment request: ✅ 200 OK
Payment response: ✅ Perfect
Component state: ❌ Not updating

The response was taking ~200ms to come back, but my component was unmounting before the state could update!
The Embarrassingly Simple Fix 🤦‍♂️

javascript// The problem
const handlePayment = () => {
setLoading(true);
processPayment(paymentData) // Missing await!
.then(response => {
setLoading(false); // This was running too fast
setPaymentSuccess(true);
});
};

// The solution
const handlePayment = async () => {
setLoading(true);
try {
await processPayment(paymentData); // Added await
await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 100)); // Tiny delay
setLoading(false);
setPaymentSuccess(true);
} catch (error) {
setLoading(false);
setError(error.message);
}
};
ONE MISSING AWAIT. That's it. Seven hours of my life for one word.
What I Learned 📚

Timing matters in UI: Sometimes components unmount before async operations complete
Network tab is your friend: Always check the actual request/response flow
AI can't debug everything: ChatGPT gave me perfect generic advice, but missed my specific timing issue
Simple bugs are the hardest: Complex problems have obvious solutions, simple problems hide in plain sight
Take breaks: After hour 4, your brain stops working properly

*Tips for Fellow Developers *💡

When debugging async operations, always check timing
Use async/await consistently instead of mixing with .then()
Add small delays for UI state transitions if needed
Don't forget to check component lifecycle during async operations

*The Aftermath *🎉
When I finally saw "Payment Successful!" on the screen, I literally fist-pumped the air at 2:30 AM. Then immediately felt silly for celebrating something so basic.
But that's coding, right? Sometimes the smallest victories feel like conquering Mount Everest.

Have you ever spent hours on a bug that had an embarrassingly simple fix? Share your stories in the comments! Let's suffer together. 😅

_If this helped you or made you feel less alone in your debugging struggles, give it a ❤️ and follow for more real developer stories!
_Connect with me:

GitHub: https://github.com/shivas1432
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ss_web_innovations/
Portfolio: www.shivashanker.com