“It Blinked. Now What?” — Understanding the First Steps in IoT Debugging

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You’ve written your code. You’ve flashed it to the board. The LED blinked. Victory! And then… nothing. Welcome to the chaotic, beautiful world of IoT debugging — where things almost work, and then don’t.

If your board powers on, but behaves unpredictably (or silently), open the serial monitor. Insert debug print statements (Serial.println("Here!")) in your code to track progress through setup and loop functions. You'll quickly see where the logic gets stuck—or if it’s running at all.

This moment — the post-blink void — is a rite of passage for anyone building connected devices. It’s not failure. It’s the beginning.

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