Intern: How to learn and execute in unfamiliar codebase

^ what Rahul said.

Now that I think about it, this is also how you proactively get good at contributing to open-source.

I feel like I do not understand anything as I am overwhelmed with how the codebase works. Also how do I understand it in a way easy to relate to and remember what the components inside the codebase does and also learn the languages?

When I hear someone is overwhelmed, the picture I get is that they feel like there's just so many things they don't know, and they don't know where to start.

If this is how you are feeling, you want to just try as many things as possible because the outcomes will set you on the right direction. Imagine just going through as many feedback loops where you come up with a hypothesis and test your hypothesis. When you get an outcome that you didn't expect, you'll learn something about the code/framework and you'll be able to orient yourself in the right direction.

I came up in an age where there weren't LLMs that could help you with code. But, I imagine, you can use ChatGPT to shorten your feedback loops even more by feeding your hypothesis into ChatGPT and letting the conversation guide you int the right direction.

best of luck with your internship!! See the Learning The Codebase section of the Onboarding course. I recommend you focus on racking up quick wins as you immerse yourself in the codebase. Ideas for quick wins:

• Share something you learned
• Update docs and tell people about it (not to brag, but to invite feedback)
• Improve wikis by adding screenshots: e.g. a screenshot or video of the setup flow
• Fix a "papercut," e.g. a misspelling in the code or a minor bug

Do a bunch of these in the first few days, then move onto something more substantial like a bug fix or feature. High coding velocity is highly correlated to internship success.

Also since you're an intern, most of the lessons here should be applicable to you: Nail Your Return Offer As A Meta Software Engineer Intern