Alright, let’s talk about this “Jashon Benjamin” thing. It came up recently, and honestly, it sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole, mostly a frustrating one.
So, I was digging through some old project files, the kind nobody’s touched in years. You know the type. We needed to update a small part of this ancient system, something tucked away and forgotten.
Finding the Name
While I was trying to make sense of the spaghetti code and zero documentation, I stumbled upon a comment. Just a single line, `# Handled by Jashon Benjamin – 2017?`. That’s it. No contact info, no ticket number, nothing.
My first thought: Okay, maybe this Jashon guy knows what’s going on. Let’s find him.
The Search Begins
I started simple.
- Checked the company directory. Nope.
- Searched the internal knowledge base. Nothing useful.
- Looked through old email archives using the name. Found a couple of generic system notifications, but nothing from or directly to a “Jashon Benjamin”.
- Scanned the version control history. Found commits under usernames like ‘jbenjamin’ or ‘jashb’, but the actual name wasn’t linked clearly, and those accounts were long inactive.
It felt like chasing a ghost. I spent a good chunk of the morning on this wild goose chase.
Asking Around
Next, I decided to ask some of the folks who’ve been around longer. Walked over to Dave’s desk – he usually remembers everything. He kind of squinted and said, “Jashon… Benjamin? Sounds vaguely familiar. Maybe worked here for like, six months? Or was that Jason? Left ages ago, I think.” Not helpful.
Tried Sarah next. She thought he might have been a contractor, maybe working remotely. Again, super vague. It was like this person barely left a trace.
Hitting a Wall
Basically, I hit a dead end. This name, Jashon Benjamin, attached to this critical piece of code, and nobody knew who he was, what exactly he did, or why he did it that way. The comment might as well have said “Magic happens here”.
It’s just like so many places, right? People come and go. Documentation is an afterthought. You inherit systems with weird little notes left by phantoms. You spend more time being a detective than actually fixing or improving things.
So, yeah. My “practice” with Jashon Benjamin was basically a lesson in frustration and the importance of not letting institutional knowledge just walk out the door. Ended up having to reverse-engineer the whole damn thing anyway. Wasted hours chasing a name.
