I just got onboarded into a live project

And wow… reading someone else’s code hits differently.

At first, everything looked like chaos. files everywhere, functions calling functions, and logic that felt like a puzzle. it can be really overwhelming and really confusing at first.

But over the past few days, I’ve been learning how to read a codebase instead of just “looking at code,” and it’s starting to click (small small).

So i did a little research and here’s what’s been helping me:

1. Start with the README. It’s basically the project’s map.

2. Run the app(locally). Seeing what it does makes the code make sense.

3. Follow one feature. Pick something small (like login) and trace it end-to-end.

4. Learn the structure. Get familiar with folders like routes, models, and components.

5. Read commits & issues. They explain the why behind decisions.

6. Ask questions early. It’s better to look curious than confused.

I’m still figuring things out, currently battling with getting the server to run 😭

but this mindset shift from trying to understand everything to understanding one piece at a time has made a huge difference.

If you’ve joined a new team before, how did you approach learning the codebase?

I’d love to hear your process 👇

#SoftwareEngineering #LearningInPublic #Codebase #DeveloperJourney