So at the interview they show me a webdatabase app written in php.
The app is old and the upload function does not work anymore, so I simple assume thats pretty easy to find the upload function, adjust the sql query and make it work again.

However, now that I got the source code.. its crazy how many different files and folders and code there is, and there is NONE comments to the code or any readme file from the other developers..


I already accepted the job, starting tomorrow. I really want to succeded, but im afraid this might be impossible to figure this whole app out without any comments, readme files or anything from the earlier developers.. Also the app has not been developed on since 2013...


They are they paying me on the hour. However I dont like the situation that I spent lots of hours and they pay me, but then I come up short in the end without fixing their problem.

Should I cancelled the job? Should I tell them the situation and ask them if they still want me to work on it or should I do the job and then see how it goes, and let them know later?

Thank you.

do what you can to re engineer it.
its yours now.

Don't give up before you've even tried. Take the job, comment as you learn what it does and you'll figure it out.

You could give them a honest warning about the situation, then they won't feel too bad when paying the bill Maybe you can come up with some other solutions too?

Always be clear with your offers! The idea is to get more then one task from your customers, as long as they understand you and what they are paying for they will keep coming to you.

I had my first workday today, and it went very well.

I decided to tell them the first thoughts of seeing all this code without any comments. I actually made lots of progress and made a deal that I'm noting everything down and trying my best, so if I dont get all the way to the finish line, the next guy wont have to go through all the findings etc I have done..

Thanks for the answers, I appreciate it a lot!

This post was edited by filsoof on Aug 23 2018 12:46pm

update: Best job I ever took.. I'm having a blast and figuring it all out on the go which means I'm learning a lot too - love it!

the same exact scenario happened to be a 3 years ago

After a couple of hours i made a list on why the job is way more difficult than expected

i presented them with a few choices

1 : i can spend more time figuring out how to app work
2 : i can stop right now
3 : i can redo the whole app

Hey there,

I don’t work in programming, but just from a situation perspective, I’d take the job and be upfront about your limitations. That way, if you come back and ask for additional resources that may cost money, they knew this could happen upfront and still chose to hire you.

I’ve been hired for jobs I have no experience in and have succeeded. Your prior subject knowledge will help you along the way as you dig into whatever it is you have to work on.

I bet you can do it - don’t sell yourself short. If you want to chat (not programming related of course) or want someone to bounce a thought off of, feel free to shoot me a pm 😉

This post was edited by CyrusTheGreat on Aug 30 2018 01:43pm

damn, this guy is great - Vouch

i'm professional developer and i couldn't have said better

Oh and 3rd option : hire a bunch of indians programmer for half the money you will get
--> their code is shitty anyway and you don't want to spend your life working on it right ?