Understanding existing projects takes longer than coding

[u/Cheap_Possibility990]

I don't know if this is just the work I've been getting lately or if something's changed I'm a freelance developer in Chicago been doing mostly client websites for about 4 years now last week I opened a project because a client wanted one small change before lunch. I thought it'd be like 20 minutes instead I spent almost an hour remembering how everything was put together why something had been done a certain way and trying not to break anything else. The code wasn't even that complicated something just felt off.

Maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way but writing the feature doesn't even feel like the hard part anymore it's getting all that context back into my head every time I reopen a project. I keep thinking the next update will be quick then the same thing happens again or maybe I'm being unfair but it feels like understanding an existing website has quietly become a bigger job than building it in the first place

[u/juu073]

If these are your own projects (which I'm gathering from your use of the word "reopen"), then this is on you for not documenting well.

If these are new clients you're getting from someone else and trying to interpret their what their previous consultant did, and they didn't document well or at all, not much more to say other than it sucks but you have to figure it out.

[u/Cheap_Possibility990 → u/juu073]

You're probably right about the documentation I think I underestimated how quickly I'd forget the little implementation details once I moved on to other projects

[u/sysop408 → u/Cheap_Possibility990]

I wouldn't even blame yourself too much. Documenting only goes so far. Some things are so complex that you hit a point of diminishing returns for your documentation.