[mypalmike]

Interesting. I guess I've been more fortunate. Most of the Java code I've worked with has involved reasonably well thought out classes. For me that mostly means I can read and understand parts of the codebase in isolation. There are usually a few piles of sometimes ugly utility classes and the occasional mess of deeply nested inheritance that nobody wants to touch. When the latter becomes painful enough, someone usually decides to refactor it, which is often not as hard to do as everyone fears.

It seems to be improving in the last 5-10 years, as most practitioners have found that both of these eyesores can be reduced. DI (sometimes messy itself, but it can be done cleanly) tends to make people rethink those utility classes, and shallow inheritance is now favored, with a focus more on interfaces and composition.