NEVER ACCEPT to be the ONLY DEV in the company who knows the whole product!

I am in the position of being the only one who knows all modules, there are even modules I developed which no one else will be able to maintain as soon as I leave the company, which I am planning right now and this also makes me getting depressed about.

Edge Case: It is acceptable to be the only dev at the company when you own the company.

Don’t feel guilty but don’t burn bridges.

@bkwilliams that's true, I've been freelancing for about 8 years and it worked pretty well.

And of course I won't burn them, if there are questions after I left they can call me

Sounds to me like a perfect opportunity to get bigger salary and more benefits.. 🤷‍♂️

To late.

But use this position to your advantage, not many devs get to a point of being irreplaceable, or cheaper to pay a dev more vs hiring more to learn and fulfil the work load, companies would rather pay you more, then hire 2-3 more devs.

There’s pros and cons to being a developer who owns many projects (owns as in, all the technical knowledge)

@myss the salary isn't everything, I just got the raise I wanted. The point is that I really want to spread the knowledge, for example it sucks twice to get sick, first because I got sick obviously and second because the workload after I return to office is like 10x higher compared to everyone else of my devs :/

@C0D4 it's never too late for a great comment, thank you!

You're actually right and your points are really good, but sometimes I think there should be 2 to 3 more devs to do my work. Feels like a sinking ship and I need to grab a lifebelt 🚢

@tuc0w I speak from experience, I own many projects by inheritance. Several devs have left over the years but the company never rehired the roles, so I’ve had to pick them up into my never ending workload.

It’s true, that responsibility should be shared across many devs, but if a company accepts the risk of having only single dev managing many projects then they’ll have to deal with it when the day comes that shit hits the fan.

@C0D4 sounds exactly like what happened to me over last years. Devs leave, also the team lead and now I fulfill all of those roles. Sometimes I am planning, owning, managing, developing, helping, debugging, reviewing and communicating with the customers. It's like Full-Stack at it's worst 😂

And today I started talking to other companies.

@tuc0w it’s great... well the “experience” gained from having multiple hats as a full stack isn’t necessarily bad,

just the responsibility of so much is nerve wrecking but we do what we must to keep going on, plus you have 1 hell of a CV come time to move on.

Documentation

I am currently in the same position as you, it's even made worse when it's an obscure piece of technology that barely anyone has even heard of. All the previous devs left, did not document a single thing, and all their projects are not version controlled. Good thing about it is my salary rose to 6 figures in less than 1 year working here.

Being a solo dev is not for everyone, but I love the freedom you get though. If you're hellbent on leaving, do as @electrineer posted. Document the hell out of your work.

Tower of knowledge problems lol

Sole dev means significant bargaining chips.

Prepare the documentation haha

@tuc0w @C0D4 you guys look like one dude talkin to himself..

@Mathis89 can you shoot weird PM with this?? 🤔

@sladuled maybe we are?

@sladuled @C0D4 except I got an invisible parrot on my shoulders!

@xonya that sounds terrible! How did she justify her decision saying no to remote work?
And yeah, morons lol

@tuc0w Some people think that they are able to control you better if you are in a office. Again, morons :D

@tuc0w you’ll have to work on getting that raven on your shoulder.

What?? This is your weapon to get a good salary raise! If they don't give you a raise, you'll leave and then they're screwed.

@CodeMasterAlex ohhh shite commented oh the wrong rant 😂

Deleting the comment 😂😂😂

Job security, how does it feel?