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7y

I'm tired of working for small companies.

I'm always either the sole developer, or the only dev for a specific stack, and therefore don't have anyone to ask for help. If I can't figure something out, it just doesn't get done.

It also means I don't have anyone to bounce ideas off, do code reviews with, or even friggin' have someone who understands what I do.

It sucks.

It would be nice to have someone I could actually ask for help! As it stands, I tear my hair out in frustration until I'm desperate enough to beg for help on discord or SO. whereupon, of course, I get ignored, as per usu. asdjfklasdjf

It really sucks.

It also means that I'm often surrounded entirely by sales people and managers... you know, those super-talkative people? who basically get paid just to talk? and are absolutely computer illiterate? Yeah. Think someone who says "I need my deliverables by end-of-week," "customer success representative," "turnkey solution," etc. completely seriously. (ew).

They're the people who constantly wonder why I can't push `n` features in `n/4` days, and ofc can't understand anything I say in response because of the aforementioned illiteracy. They're also the people who, almost every week, ask how long `y` is going to take, and then yell "But I need it by Friday! I just sold 50 clients on it!" (And they do this, of course, without ever asking for timelines)

It really fucking sucks.

Though I suppose larger companies would still have these problems.

but at least I could ask for help once in awhile. that would be nice.

undefined

sales people

different species

foreveralone

managers

sad pepe
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  • 20
    7y
    That sounds horrible! It's a shame non-tech people are so stubborn about something they clearly don't understand.

    I don't know a lot about cars, so I don't backtalk my mechanic of what I can or can't do with my car. Just show me the same courtesy!
  • 4
    7y
    Sales people, they just sell that is already made and they don't need that creativity to sell products, if product is good, it's definitely gonna sell. On the other hand we need to create something out of nothing. They think we are like workers on the glossary​ shop, if they asked for an extra feature we just need to reach out to that shelf and hand it over to them.
  • 7
    7y
    I work in a large company, but I read this thinking wow this is me 😱
  • 0
    7y
    So even when you request help on SO and similar sites, you're ignored? Why do people do that? 😡
  • 2
    7y
    @wiredgecko no idea :<
  • 2
    7y
    @Ashkin A dev I was chatting to on Twitter suggested dev.to and Indie Hackers communities too. Might be worth checking out.
  • 3
    7y
    @wiredgecko I'll give them a look ☺ Thanks!
  • 2
    7y
    This is always the problem for small company, as you already knew. You know what you should do next.
  • 2
    7y
    @Ashkin you're welcome 😊
  • 1
    7y
    I can feel you... I'm in a similar situation but luckily without the sales people.
  • 7
    7y
    Was in the same boat at the company I was at, except I was paid minimum wage and in charge of updating their iOS and android apps.

    I left because they didn't want to increase my pay at all but wanting me to make more apps for them, basically wanted me to be their head developer and never ever hire more than just me. Same thing though me being completely unsure how long a feature will take I give my estimate x2 and my boss expects to see me I half that time to see the product finished. I give the estimation for good reason. I don't want them to be disappointed that I don't meet their deadline but if I'm stuck and have no help for SO (had some stuck up know it all just say I'm wrong, and gives an answer in a different coding language, not very helpful) can't do much :/

    Those people need to understand development isn't easy, especially by themselves.
  • 1
    7y
    Same here can barely stand it :/
  • 1
    7y
    I can feel you, same situation, but with less ignorant people and more of "if I can't do it, It can't be done".
    I changed the specific to the client so many time because of such stupid thing that are not working (I mean example programs).
    Very friendly client, though
  • 3
    7y
    I'm in a bigish company, but I'm the only "team" un the company consisting of one member... The previous loner for that module left just as I was arriving im the company so they put me there and now I'm trapped because we can't find a replacement or better yet another member for the "team"...
    Thankfully, at least I have devs with the same stack around me, even if they don't really know my module...
  • 5
    7y
    Thanks for saving me the time to write this same exact rant.

    I'm in your same situation.

    Maybe the situation would be shitty in a big company too, but at least you'd have colleagues who think like you and that can relate
  • 1
    7y
    Wow, I can feel you.
    But for the most part I have the feeling other people aren't even really working. They want multiple features in X amount of time but not even revenue is coming in.
    We got a funding, that's the only reason we'd survive so far.
  • 2
    7y
    Yep, feeling the same at current job :( not even being employed as developer but "webmaster"
  • 1
    7y
    Well hello!! Same stuff here I was in a 5 people marketing company and I just moved to big software company this week. I love it and I think you should move too.
  • 3
    7y
    Feel the same sometimes. For me it’s also kinda frustrating to not learn anything anymore from fellow devs. Until the past two years I was used to constantly get knowledge either through code review, pair programming or just discussing about technologies.
  • 3
    7y
    All sizes got their fair share of issues. In a large project there is a painful amount of politics and just setting up a new dev machine can take days to go through all policy steps. The project I’m now inside of needed 4 days just to get get access to the code, so I could set up a dev environment.
  • 1
    7y
    @wiredgecko I'm kind of in the same boat, but I don't feel that depreciation (yet), probably due to IRC, but that's an awesome suggestion I'll check it out myself.

    @Ashkin There's probably loads of dev's in the same boat, might be worth starting a collab! :D
  • 6
    7y
    Christ, I only got halfway down the comments before posting, there are so many people in similar situations, it's bonkers!
    Maybe this is why we're all on devRant in the first place! ;)
  • 4
    7y
    @Bikonja I like that better

    @Ashkin at least you can understand the code base.... big team of bad devs writing shitty code that breaks in production or aren't documented... I now have to spent time figuring out what they do because boss wants to know... But the dev has left...

    I'm tired of wasting time cleaning up other people's shit....
  • 1
    7y
    In my opinion, you may try a different approach? Hope me experience helps.

    I also work in a small company in which i am the only developer. But i focused on setting the terms and pace at all times. Example:If you want x it takes y time only if no prioriy emerges. And i am always clear on which project I'm working on. And the current order of priorities.
    I personally asked to work at home. I talked about how distractions negatively affect performance (but working at home may not be for everyone).

    My point try to show you are the person who knows the most of how it works and learn to say no to unreasonable request by rules you set.

    Unfortunately i suffer from the second part of your issue. I have no one to share ideas with...
  • 1
    7y
    How do you even find small development companies?
  • 0
    7y
    @runfrodorun Yes. This explains it perfectly and succinctly.

    I always include summary, background, steps, goals, things I've tried + their results, etc. I ask because the question is difficult and I've exhausted my ideas and ability. No cheap upvotes there!
  • 1
    7y
    Well hello again @jAsE 😅

    Basically:
    Lots of job applications out, few responses in. The only positives were from small companies.

    Really though, this position was (originally) a good fit: I'd be the primary backend Ruby developer (along with one other Ruby dev) who occasionally help out the Angular1 frontend team. Exactly what my skillset is. Ofc when I accepted the job and started, everything changed: frontend only, and in React, which I had never even looked at before. Basically no touching Ruby anywhere, and the front-end team is in Seattle... working as contractors for a different company! 😅😖
  • 1
    7y
    @Ashkin so to continue... I just spent most of this week reverse engineering some report generating code that doesn't seem to work.

    I looked at the git change history... It it needs no sense... There were no changes... So went doesn't it work?

    Well some "senior guy" on the team finally helped and "oh that like thats commented out in the repo, well actually when we need to run this reports, we build a custom with these lines switched"

    TLDR the code in svn and production is actually wrong, you need to know that 99% of the time, this report is run by switching these lines... And it's not documented anywhere..u just gotta know it....
  • 0
    7y
    @Ashkin to find a big company. You need the recruiters. You may start as a contractor. Once the gate open, rest is easier
  • 0
    7y
    That's why I've stopped freelancing earlier this year. The little extra money is not worth it, to have to constantly deal with idiots.

    If I build something in my free time, it's only my own ideas!
  • 1
    7y
    I once had a highly experimental project to make a web interface for an unbelievably shitty .net solution. It didn't make use of anything the ecosystem provides, like an ORM layer or anything. Hand coded bullshit all around for the most basic stuff. I made a webapp that could integrate with the system (also needed to develop the API).

    Then my boss said he already sold the product and we need to go live next week. I'm like no freaking way it's not ready. anyway the day comes, and he actually set up a subdomain redirecting to the dev server and sent it to the client!
  • 0
    7y
    Large companies are even worse 😣
  • 1
    7y
    When you have a master admin root password hardcoded, which can be used to fuck up ANY client's business and no one cares it's there. He even emailed the password to us once a year when it changed....

    With a decompiler anyone could fuck the company and/or any of its clients.
  • 1
    7y
    I understand you so much!
    I have literally the same situation where I do unique and unrelated tasks:
    * I'm a "devops" engineer.
    * Yet I'm the main scripts guy.
    * Furthermore I'm responsible for systems monitoring and troubleshooting (NOC and Support engineers stuff)
    * I'm responsible for the company's internal apps development.
    * I've been assigned a huge team of interns.
    * I'm the main front-end solutions guy.
    * It's me who writes all the documentation.

    At least there are pros to working alone. No code reviews and specific requirements means I can choose my own tools amd style.

    I have scripts running on Bash, Python, Ruby and Node.js.
    I've got Python apps, Java apps and web apps (HTML, JS, CSS).
    Hell I'll make an Ada app if I wish (and will be competent enough).

    Always look at the bright side :)
  • 1
    7y
    @Noob I miss code reviews 🙁

    I get the rest, though.
    It really is kind of nice to be the queen/king of your own domain.
  • 1
    7y
    Isnt developing sole a hell lot better than dealing with many fuckheads
  • 2
    7y
    @pk359 Totally.
    However, being the only developer surrounded by sales and marketing managers likewise totally sucks.

    Having one person to commiserate with would be nice.
  • 1
    7y
    I call what you described, Tuesday. I work with about 8 other devs, but it’s still so bad.
  • 1
    7y
    I understand this pain.
  • 0
    7y
    @MrMeeseeks Came here to say that. I long for the days where I was the only one that knew the product. :)
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