Here is what i do at every new job where by definition i am the "new" software developer. Note that the below activities are not necessarily sequential; * Ask

Here is what i do at every new job where by definition i am the "new" software developer. Note that the below activities are not necessarily sequential; * Ask for any and all user manual, design and code documentation however incomplete. This could be docs/pdfs/wikis etc. Spend a few days/week on going through this and taking notes. * Ask a Senior/Knowledgeable developer who has a good idea of the entire System/Codebase for a few hours of his time for a couple of days. Take him to lunch and segue into a "brain dump" of the System. Again take notes. In particular; spend a few hours going over the layout of the codebase and writing down an overview of each component. * Don't ask questions while doing the above. Your aim is to get an idea of the "lay of the land" as far as the logical/functional and physical design of the system is concerned. Absorb the information and try to form a model/image of the system in your mind. * Sit with QA or another developer to learn to run and use the system as a end user. I always find this difficult since one needs to have an idea of what the system does before one can understand how to use it. * Now you have some internal view i.e. logical/functional design and physical codebase layout which you can attempt to map to end user functionality. Start diving into the code, fixing bugs, adding small features to gain understanding and confidence. * You can now start asking any and all questions and revising your understanding of the system and its code.