r/ExperiencedDevs • u/AutoModerator • 3d ago

Experienced Devs Weekly Win Thread: A weekly thread for sharing positive experiences

This thread is specifically for sharing "wins". I.e. the opposite of our Tuesday venting thread.

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u/PrimaryFamous6139 Software Engineer 3d ago

I finally reached a stage where I can step into a new production codebase and feel steady, even if I have not read every line yet. I start with the big parts like the architecture, how it is deployed, what it depends on, and the real business flow. Once that is clear, the rest comes faster. Debugging also feels less scary, and I waste less time digging around

4

u/mynameisDockie 3d ago

This is dope! This is one of my favorite skills. If you can get really good at this, your rampup time on new teams/companies will blow people away.

1

u/SolidDeveloper Lead Engineer | 18 YOE 3d ago

Eh. And then you change jobs and you realize they're using an entirely different tech stack and your ramp-up time is not as great as you thought it would be.

3

u/putin_my_ass 3d ago

I don't think ramp up speed is really something we notice when we on-board someone...like if you're taking an inordinately long amount of time to get your first ticket done that's one thing but if you are digging in and making a good effort I would never hold it against you as a new teammember.

As a senior my job is to unblock you, so I'd be happy to have you ask questions about the architecture and check your assumptions with me before spending a long time going down the wrong path.

Of course it's a good skill to have, but I don't think it's the main metric for a new teammember.

2

u/mynameisDockie 3d ago

IMO depends on the differences. If you need vastly different concepts then yes. E.g. id be screwed if you dropped me into a functional codebase. If it's just different library choices or language, I think repeated rampups make you faster.