[NFBCS] The Fine Line Between Reasonable Versus Unreasonable Accommodations

[Brian Buhrow]

	hello Michael.  To help me learn the guts of large complex software systems, I've used the
following tricks:

1. I start by reading the user documentation to find out how the system is supposed to be used
and what its purpose is.  then, I begin reading the instructions for maintaining the system.
They may be explicit instructions or they may be references to specific programs or scripts
that are used to maintain the system.  If they are programs or scripts, I will read the source
code for those programs.  If there is a bug database where people have reported problems, I'll
try to find a bug that looks simple to fix and see if I can figure out how I might fix it.
that will help me read the afforementioned sources with something to look for and a goal in
mind; in other words, it helps me create a context on which to hang the information that comes
from the source code.  Finally, if there are people's names in those sources that might be
accessible to me, I'll reach out to them and ask them if they can give me a quick overview of
what I'm looking at and what they know of how the pieces fit together.

2.  I don't try to understand everything at once.  I learn little pieces of the puzzle.  Then,
as I learn more pieces, I gain islands of knowledge, which then begin to coalesce into
continents of knowledge.  If possible, I'll take a class on the technology itself, or a similar
technology, which will help broaden my understanding of the system in general terms.
Again, if I can find someone who is willing to mentor me, I'll do that as well.  That can take
the form of having someone be willing to answer my questions as I learn things, or as I wrote
earlier, someone who is willing to give me an overview.

3.  By the way, I've found that if I'm able to fix the simple bug I picked in item 1 above, or
other bugs, that has gone a long way to improving my value as an employee.  As people begin to
realize that I have a good understanding of a system, they begin telling me more about it and
calling on me to help with issues they have with it.  Remember, you don't have to know how to
solve a problem when you begin working on it.  You just have to know how to take the next step
toard solving that problem, which may be a step that takes you down a side path, but which will
ultimately help you  gain a better understanding of how things work.

-thanks
-Brian