Topic: Onboarding

Onboarding onto a large LMS codebase, I used Cursor not to write features faster, but to build a mental model: where legacy PHP meets newer REST layers, how events propagate, and where permission checks actually live.

This post walks through two real explorations (user impersonation across stacks and a permissions trace), with anonymized prompts, what the tool got right and wrong, and a small playbook you can reuse on your own brownfield project.

It began as a small experiment to bring engineers back into contact with each other. Junior developers paired with mentors from different teams, learning how the company really worked instead of just their own corner of it.

No formal training, just regular conversations that built trust, context, and confidence. Over time, those early pairs shaped a quiet tradition.

Mentees became mentors. The bridges stayed.