Is this really that much different from any other industry though? The system in the story is clearly insane, but every organization (not just software compani

Is this really that much different from any other industry though? The system in the story is clearly insane, but every organization (not just software companies) has it's own operational awkwardness, that might look weird for new employees. Imagine that Google has all their code in a single repository. How "insane" is that? My point is I don't see why is it a hard requirement for a new developer to be able to commit code on day 1. Of course if you have hundreds of developers, it makes sense to optimize the process, but personally I would prefer a new college to walk me through things (apprenticeship style) rather than throw me at a repo and go-figure-it-out.