>> of a fairly new developer who's just been asked to do non-trivial update of his own code for the first time
fairly new has nothing to do with it. I'm struggling to read my own code since 1998 and constantly in battle with myself to strategically place comments at the right places. I doubt that I'll ever correctly estimate my own ability to comprehend my sh1t no matter how many years of experience I have. In fact it seems to have gotten worse with experience. The more I know the less I can trust myself. Not sure if I'm alone with that.
I've been writing code professionally for 25 years. You're not alone. It does get worse. Junior programmers just don't get it and jump into management before they have a chance to.
fairly new has nothing to do with it. I'm struggling to read my own code since 1998 and constantly in battle with myself to strategically place comments at the right places. I doubt that I'll ever correctly estimate my own ability to comprehend my sh1t no matter how many years of experience I have. In fact it seems to have gotten worse with experience. The more I know the less I can trust myself. Not sure if I'm alone with that.