legacy systems (slashdot)

"A couple of times in my career, I've inherited a fairly large (30-40
thousand lines) collection of code. The original authors knew it
because they wrote it; I didn't, and I don't. I spend a huge amount of
time finding the right place to make a change, far more than I do
changing anything. How would you learn such a big hunk of code? And
how discouraged should I be that I can't seem to 'get' this code as
well as the original developers?"

sometimes non coders get to be coders and HUGE mistakes are made and
tronic has to clean up .... sometimes even - later getting BLAMED for
the mistake that they had NOTHING TO DO WITH

sometimes non coders get to control things ... sometimes non coders
who aren't even in the INDUSTRY get to control things (re: agencies)

sometimes coders get RIPPED off ... sometimes their ideas get stolen
and other people get all the CREDIT ... sometimes coders get BULLIED
and pushed around ...
sometimes coders get EXPLOITED and CAST ASIDE

sometimes non-coders stand within the industry at you outside and LAUGH