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Almost no one is going to be productive the first few months they step in to working on a massive codebase. In a large codebase you essentially have to develop
by coderintherye 4y ago
Almost no one is going to be productive the first few months they step in to working on a massive codebase. In a large codebase you essentially have to develop a relationship with it and the teams working on it to have an understanding. Find simple tasks you can accomplish even if it's outside your current scope just so you can get used to making changes.
Don't be afraid to switch roles though if 6 months in you still don't enjoy the work. It's not a necessity to work on large codebases.
- CodeSgt 4y agoThanks for your response. I've been involved and making small changes since my first week. I'm at a point now that I should have a clearer picture of the larger system, but there's still so much I don't understand or have difficulty with. If I were to switch roles, I imagine another agency would really be my only option if I wanted to avoid large codebases, right? I'm also a bit hesitant to "give up" so soon, but that may be my pride thinking for me.
- coderintherye 4y agoPlenty of non-agency roles on smaller codebases out there. Even at large companies you can work on product-specific teams with smaller codebases or in companies with a service-oriented architecture where you only need to understand one service. Lots of smaller orgs with similarly smaller codebases. Just about any pre Series A startup is also going to have a fairly small codebase as well. As to sticking it out, really depends on if you want to learn to be good at this particular codebase or not. If you are miserable, then find another opportunity (while opportunities are still in good supply). Don't force yourself through something just to satisfy others's perception of you or your own self-perception.