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Going back to what you've written: what are your struggles exactly? Is it some of the concepts or the structure of the project?
One good way to get up to speed that I've seen is to say "there is no good onboarding for newbies, I will make one." Then go through and document everything needed to get productive. It gives you ego armour to ask basic questions because you are documenting the process, and it will force you to be thorough in getting yourself up to speed.
It will also make you the defacto mentor for new people (whom you should task with updating the onboarding guide), which is a very powerful thing - if you mentor new people, you will be seen as a leader and eventually you will be a leader.
If you are interviewing for a new position, ask something about "how do you onboard new employees" , "do you have a mentoring program?" , "what does a developer do when they are stuck on a problem". If someone tells me I'm going to fix a bug on the first day of work, I always ask who is going to coach me through that! I watch how the interviewers interact with each other. Do they laugh with each other or is everyone in the interview silent and just listening to the boss? I also look for diversity on the team (some married, some not, some old, some young, etc) because where there is higher diversity there is more chance you'll click with someone who will be happy to support you. Explicitly state your job hunt is to find a more supportive culture that will coach you through your growth. Good luck either way!
For God'sake, read the fucking manual before asking
redundant questions on HN!
I like to do this (explore the codebase) with any new code. My approach is to pick a piece I'm interested in (eg, auth, orm, some api integration), and either: a) see if I can just develop that bit from scratch using the codebase as example - that really helps with my understanding of the required components that get that bit working, or b) delete non-relelvant bits of the codebase until just that bit's left and it's not broken. Then you can tweak, extend, explore, experiment, and slowly add other bits back in.
Point b) works well with tearing apart smaller github projects to see how the bit I'm interested in work, less so with a large codebase.
But tbh, yes, it's pretty much sink or swim. I expect to be put on projects with little backgroud knowledge and expected to get myself up to speed and be productive. Anything else is a bonus.
Where structured training has really helped is in the softer skills, like project management, problem analysis etc. This makes it easier to communicate common concepts, thoughts etc to people who aren't just devs (eg, being able to put a timeline on a problem, identify a change point, and perform root cause analysis that leads you to fixing a fundamental bug). These are skills that you _could_ absorb through good company practice, but better to spend a day learning and be on the same page.
Sometimes they might decide it is in their best interests to train you in some area so you can be pushed down a certain path, often not.
The don't pay in the top 10% (and often in the past to people with no formal quals) because anyone and everyone can do this, it can be hard.
You will likely burn out if you don't do it for some underlying fundamental aspect of joy not related to the direct or promised possible remuneration, even if it is just getting to make the "right patterns" as part of your work.
If it distresses you, start to think of other things to do.
> I guess I just want confirmation - is this industry only for people who very self motivated and don't expect any hand-holding? I'm afraid that's mostly the case. That's why it pays so much BTW - you're expected to be thrown into a middle of complex shitstorm and start delivering value soon afterwards. In return, you get a salary in 90-95th percentile. My best recommendation is to not change projects too often - aft…
This. I think this is the only reason why IT pays so much: it’s difficult, there is no documentation and you need to educate yourself.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This. I think this is the only reason why IT pays so much: it’s difficult, there is no documentation and you need to educate yourself.
It's a weird situation where you can make 60k+ pretty early on in your career but still get yelled at more than you really thought you would as an adult.