> what can they possibly* be doing to need that many lines of code? it really does boggle my mind.* Unless you've spent lots of time (half a decade or more) a

> what can they possibly* be doing to need that many lines of code? it really does boggle my mind.* Unless you've spent lots of time (half a decade or more) at each layer of "full stack", it is really hard to comprehend just how mind-bogglingly fractal systems requirements get the more users you expose them to. Anytime you go b2c, or even b2b with a large enough user base, be prepared to say, "huh, I didn't see that coming" once a week or more frequently. There are entire problem domains that lay submerged until you reach certain scales. Some code bases reflect the encapsulation of those submarine domains; some don't, most assuredly, but until the software becomes unused, at my clients I never ask the question the way you ask. Instead, I ask them to walk me through the code at successively finer-grained conceptual blocks until I reach the level where I can start attacking the problem I've been brought in to help address.