[faizmokhtar]

That's basically a classic "problem" whenever a new software engineer joins a new company.

"Everyone else code is shit except me. I don't want to waste my time reading the code." kind of scenario.

[learningstud]

No, most code is really just shit. The fact that code only gets more obscure instead of more obvious is anti-intellectual. This is the complete opposite of mathematical progress. It is due to the arrogance of programmers to think that their current codebase is the best TRADEOFF anyone could have achieved. Take the newcomers' words as monition. Be completely honest about how hard it is to think straight, and adopt formal methods like Coq as done by CompCert and Sel4. There is a reason why mathematicians DEMAND proofs. It's too easy to fool yourself. Recall how "newcomers" like Hilbert in the early 20th century revamped and closed "wide gaps" in Euclid's Element which had been considered the epitome of rigor for 2200 years. Of course, people will argue that proofs take too much time, etc. Wrong! Things move so much faster when there is absolute confidence that everything is correct. As proofs are required, one is also forced to constantly simplify things. This is what refactoring is all about: simplification.

[sidibe]

Yup, this is a symptom of having too high expectations for yourself.

The skill needed to contribute on a mature codebase within the first year is being able to tune out anything that doesn't directly interface with small changes you are making, and trust that someone more experienced will notice during reviews if it accidentally does break something outside of that scope. And do that again and again. Ambition is a bad thing when starting on a mature codebase, do new stuff on the side if that isn't satisfying.