At one point I worked on reviewing the code for an emergency alert system for a university. Our group made it really simple not notify 60k people of all sorts of emergencies, through a really simple UI. We had it calling, texting, emailing, updating Facebook and Twitter and displaying messages on TV screens.
We also had an equally important test system so the campus police could test their familiarity with the procedures daily. This is the kind of app that saves lives; hence the line-by-line code reviews of every single change to the application, and backup procedures for backup procedures in case something breaks.
It is true, not every day you get to work on something like that. However, when you do, it always makes the hair on the back of your head stand up each time you find a bug.
We also had an equally important test system so the campus police could test their familiarity with the procedures daily. This is the kind of app that saves lives; hence the line-by-line code reviews of every single change to the application, and backup procedures for backup procedures in case something breaks.
It is true, not every day you get to work on something like that. However, when you do, it always makes the hair on the back of your head stand up each time you find a bug.