Honest Look at Current MS Access Support Situation
Hello, I am requesting an honest look from those who have more familiarity with MS Access and VBA. I was hired on to work as a MS Access Developer for my organization of over 300 people where multiple people use a database at a time, however, I just started and have not had much experience learning Access or VBA. Long story short, I have other transferrable skills and come from a background in General IT.
So my responsibilities involve supporting very high level Access Databases with VBA built in, but they appear to be a mess. There is no documentation, and I am the sole person that can work on the databases. I am doing my best to get up to speed, but I am still lost went it comes how I can fix the issues that arise regarding the multiple databases. For example, a pressing issue is one of the databases needs to be rebuilt because the ACCDB file has been lost and we are just operating off the ACCDE file. The person who original built these retired during COVID and left no documentation. There is lot of VBA written in as well. A couple people before me came and left so there is no one I can go to for help with how to properly support the databases. Any help is few and far in between. (I know, a lot of red flags)
My main question, is it honestly realistic for essentially a Junior Access Developer to be capable of fully supporting multiple Access Databases within a short timeframe? It feels like I would need to become an Access Wizard with expert-level VBA, but without much input or resources. I am asking my organization to provide some resources (either in third-party consulting or paying for learning courses), but I do have in mind that they might just try and find someone else that can do the job.
This post is also a bit of a request for input from others more experienced than I, and how you would tackle this situation if you were in my shoes.
I appreciate any input. Feel free to ask any questions on areas that need more detail.