How long does it take for a Associate programmer to get up to speed with a project?

This is a question that many young programmers ask themselves and can be very shocking to find the answer is that it takes months before you will become even somewhat familiar with the code base that the company has you working in. It truly takes a determined person to be a computer engineer because you have to deal with constant failure and learn that it is alright to fail. You can't know everything off the bat and it takes time to learn all of the nuances and logic behind what made the project you are on so far. Sadly when your teachers told you that reading other developers code would be the things that you do most they were completely right. It is a good habit to get into before you get an actual job because the main way that you can get going on a project is by reading through that projects code and understanding what other people have written. This is easier said then done and can be very frustrating, especially at first when you have no experience. This however will get easier the more that you do it, so after your first project then the next few projects will get easier and easier until you can get up to speed with the project without much effort at all. So don't give up and keep at, because you will get it eventually.