The key to understanding is drilling the backpropagation algorithm and being able to visualize the application of the multivariate chain rule as a computational graph.
EDIT: You won't understand until you do this yourself using pen and paper. It's a pain.
Also Australian, and this entire story seems absurd to me. I guess I've never worked in an office with more than 50 people, so don't get the full gamut of human interactions.
As a C programmer working with a large codebase, I have come to HATE callbacks.
Seriously, the worst feeling ever is tracing through a huge function tree, only to run into function pointer dereference. Then you have to go on a wild goose chase to find out when, where and what it will be assigned to.
You fucking nailed it!