It's not about the codebase but the business rules.
I was once handed an insurance codebase and a list of open bugs after the maintainer left on short notice. I fixed a few bugs, which led to more bugs being opened from users in other states. WTF?
Turned out that the business rules naturally varied per state regulator but had never been implemented. Just wading into code would never have resolved that. It took months to compile the documentation before touching yhe code again.
You can't make meaningful contributions on Day One in any regulated industry. Especially as a contractor where the fines might be passed along...
Exactly. It's not so much the technical knowledge as it is the domain knowledge.
So "fixing bugs" and "making meaningful contributions" is a lot easier if you only focus on syntax and not on what the software should achieve in the real world.
I was once handed an insurance codebase and a list of open bugs after the maintainer left on short notice. I fixed a few bugs, which led to more bugs being opened from users in other states. WTF?
Turned out that the business rules naturally varied per state regulator but had never been implemented. Just wading into code would never have resolved that. It took months to compile the documentation before touching yhe code again.
You can't make meaningful contributions on Day One in any regulated industry. Especially as a contractor where the fines might be passed along...