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A few days ago, I decided to start using Facebook more in my personal networking, so I needed to add information to my profile page, including my work history. As I added my work history to my profile, I came across a strange bug.
When adding or editing a workplace on Facebook, as long as you have the I currently work here checkbox unchecked, when you save the workplace, the start date will go down by 1.
Let's say we add workplace information for Example Company, which you worked at from 2014 to 2016.
Make sure to have I currently work here unchecked.
"I currently work here" unchecked
After saving, you'll see that the starting year decreases from 2014 to 2013.
Starting year subtracted by 1 when saved
To figure out what's going on, let's edit the workplace and see what happens when we add a starting month.
After saving, the start year is still 2013, but the month decreased from February to January. This shows that the bug seems to care about subtracting the smallest value of the date by 1. We'll test that in a bit, but first we need to test out the month value a little more.
Starting month subtracted by 1 when saved
January is the first month, so what would happen if January was the starting month before saving?
Testing starting month roll over
The month rolled back from January to December and the year rolled back from 2013 to 2012.
Well, now that we know that the month can roll the year back, let's see what happens when we add a day.
After saving, the day decrements by 1, which seems to confirm that the smallest value of the date is subtracted by 1.
We tested decrementing January, so let's try subtracting 1 from the first of the year.
Testing starting day roll over
Just like before, the year rolled over. The starting day rolled over from the first day of the year to the last day of the previous year.
The earliest starting year a person can set is their birth year, so let's see what happens when we set the birth year.
Testing starting year lower cap
The year stayed the same, so it seems as though there is a lower cap that the year will not subtract 1 from.
The year has a lower cap and won't decrease by itself at that cap
What if we tried rolling the year back by subtracting 1 from the day?
Setting the starting year to my birth year and setting the month and day to the first of the year
Success! If the smallest date value rolls overs, the year will subtract by 1.
The starting day is subtracted by 1, rolling it, the starting month, and the starting year back
The workaround is actually a little counterintuitive. You first need to hover over the workplace until the Options arrow appears, select the Options arrow and click Delete.
Select the Options arrow on the side and click Delete
After you click Delete, a popup will appear. This popup allows you to change your start and end dates. When you change the start date back to what you want it to be, click Save.
Change the Start Date to what you want and click Save
After saving, the starting date will be correct. We managed to get around this bug!
The date will be correct when saved from the Delete option
Because of this bug, I was able to say I started working the year before I was born, which shouldn't be possible, but this bug could have more common side effect. If a user edits their past jobs, the date would keep being subtracted by 1, and if only the year is supplied, the year will keep being subtracted by 1.
Well... may as well post a trophy on my Facebook profile to prove I figured this bug out.
