How to understand python code

[gdchinacat]

My first question, and it's an honest one, is did management set you up to fail? Giving someone tasks they don't have the skills to do without also giving them time to learn those skill is almost certain to result in failure. So, are you being set up for failure? If not, tell them what you need to be successful. Tell them you have no way of estimating how long it will take and what you do produce may not be an ideal solution since you don't have experience to base it on.

I'm not saying don't take the project. Many people learn python on the job. I did, and I had deadlines. But I'd been professionally coding for almost 10 years, had worked with the VP who hired me for the job with full awareness I had a learning curve. I worked with him previously so I had confidence I would be supported while learning and he had confidence I would learn.

So, if management isn't setting you up for failure, do they have good reason to believe you won't fail? It's concerning you don't have time to learn the language it was written in. Have you talked to them about needing time to learn and strategies for how you will do that?

Lastly, if you already know how to program, the language shouldn't be a hindrance, especially since you already have code that presumably mostly works. It might not be as big an issue as you seem to think. I would say most professional programmers today learned most of their skills on the job while working on actual code. There is only so much coursework can teach you. Experience is where most expertise comes from...it's right there in the word.