Forums
Aug 12Ask WTF: Learning The Business
by in Alex's Soapbox on 2012-09-13Most of the emails that arrive in The Daily WTF inbox are some kind of a submission. Or a hate mail. But every now and then, some one will request something a bit out of the ordinary: advice.
Hi Alex, I recently started my first "grown-up" job as a software developer. As exciting as it is to get paid for doing what I love, I can't help but wonder if I'm expecting waaaay too from a company. My main issue is that I know virtually nothing about the (very large) application I'm maintaining, or even the business domain. There is a business requirements wiki (and a whole team who can apparently answer questions about it), but it's filled with words and terms that are so domain-specific that it's basically impossible to get a proper understanding of things. It feels like I'm learning to fly using only blueprints to a Boeing 747. I was really expecting that someone would sit down with me and give me a nice demo of the ins and outs of the application and the business, but no one seems to be willing or able to do that. Messing around with a test version of the application doesn't help either since there's no product documentation accessible and the little help that's available is littered with domain intensive keywords. I feel that "it's complicated" and "this is a fast-paced environment" is no excuse to skip proper training and to not give due importance to knowledge transfer to new hires. I feel that if I were running the department, I'd accept the overhead and just make sure developers could understand the applications and business they're maintaining. Is this so much to ask? How exactly am I supposed to understand the application if no one else seems to know (or be willing to share) what it does? Sincerely, S.N.