I've been working as an intern for almost three months, earning ₹7,200 per month. I was originally hired to develop Android apps, but after my first month I was moved into a C#/.NET role, despite having no previous experience with either technology.
It has now been about six weeks since the transition. I've learned the basics of C# and .NET and built a few small projects. Some of my assigned tasks are manageable, but others feel far beyond my current level, especially when I have to work through an unfamiliar codebase.
I sometimes use AI tools to help explain the code. That can be enough for me to describe the general idea to my manager, but he often asks detailed follow-up questions about every line, keyword, design choice, and what happens internally. I frequently reach a point where I can't explain things confidently. Debugging also sometimes leaves me more confused, and AI explanations don't always make the concepts click.
Is this level of difficulty normal after only about six weeks of learning C#/.NET? What is the best way to understand an existing codebase instead of relying on summaries? How should I respond when my manager asks something I don't know? Is it more important at this stage to produce working code or to understand every line deeply? I'd especially appreciate advice about what helped other developers improve as beginners.
3 Answers
The main way to learn a codebase is to go through it systematically. Start with the application entry point, identify the main request or user flow, and follow the calls from there. Read the project documentation, inspect related classes, and build small experiments to test one concept at a time. Understanding code and writing code are connected skills; the more small programs you write yourself, the easier it becomes to recognize what other people’s code is doing.
Your manager’s expectations may be reasonable for reviewing production code, but you shouldn’t pretend to know something you don’t. Say clearly which part you understand, identify what is uncertain, and explain how you would investigate it. Ask for time to trace the behavior, reproduce it in a small test project, or read the relevant documentation. I also had to create miniature versions of unfamiliar modules outside the main task before the concepts started to click. It gets easier, although even experienced developers still encounter code that requires investigation.
Yes, feeling lost after only six weeks is completely normal, especially after being moved into a different technology stack. Use the debugger actively rather than only asking an AI tool for explanations. Set breakpoints and step through the program line by line while watching variables, method calls, and control flow change. Seeing what the program actually does is often much more useful than reading a general summary.
Thanks, that makes sense. I’ll try focusing more on watching the program execute instead of just reading explanations.