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How many "lone wolf" developers do we have here, just out of curiosity? I'm the only programmer in my facility. We have a corporate programming team but they focus on projects which are used across the company's range of facilities, worldwide. I have taken on the task of writing a set of applications to support our latest addition, a refurbishment department for PC's/tablets/phones/gaming consoles. And I'm at it entirely alone.  I mean, I'm not complaining. I was told by my boss that this project will more or less be my "claim to fame among the company's operations in this facility."
I started out working on the production floor, refurbishing desktop printers. I saw an opportunity to showcase what I can do, and I solved a big problem in the repair department. I wrote a software solution, as they had just started the repair department. And the plant manager at the time (no longer with us due to poor and improper business practices) created an Access database. He expected that database to be a shared file on his external hard drive and then accessed by 15+ employees simultaneously via the LAN share. So I developed a solution with SQL Server 2008 Express as a back-end, in my own time and at home. I practically slapped it on his desk. I was moved to IT very shortly after that and I've been writing software here ever since. I've never been to college for this. I've worked very, very hard for the past fourteen years, since I was 12 years old, to be where I'm at today. And it's paying off with time, which I am willing to take small steps to get to the top.
Now we are under some new management (for the past 6 months or more). And I've been working on the latest project since October 11, 2012. It's moving along as planned, no real setbacks. Honestly, I think I prefer to work alone. I know where all responsibility lies from a development standpoint. And I know exactly what's going on and when and where. I use Git for source control and this project is the first time I've ever used source control. And let me tell you, it has been a huge LIFE SAVER! 
I'm just curious as to how many of you work for a company but develop on your own. It does have its negative aspects. I don't really have anyone I can go to for immediate help or input if necessary, as far as programming goes. But then again, I have CodeProject.com which has helped me greatly in the past few months.  I'd say, though, that being the sole developer seems like more good than bad, in my opinion.
What do you think about being a solo developer?
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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It has its good and bad points.
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I was working as part of a development team for a company. Then there was some reorganising and we ended up being subsumed into the parent companies larger IT department and existing development team.
They used different languages to us (mostly VB).
Over time most of the others who moved with me have left or moved into other roles so there are quite a few systems where I am the only person left in the company with the skills to work on them.
This is a massive pain in the backside most of the time, largely because I also have mostly moved onto other things and I do not want to support these older systems.
What I am currently working on, however, I am also the only person in the company with the skills and knowledge to do. This is problematic if I have time off, as any problems get saved for my return or I get bugged by phone and email whilst I am off. I didn't get a day off for 5 weeks before Christmas because things were going tits up and they needed me to try to work out where problems lay and come up with solutions.
And as you say you only have yourself and the internet for help when you get stuck, this means it is harder to find solutions or help that directly relates to your situation.
There are good parts to it though, you tend to get far more freedom and don't have other people buggering about with your stuff. Plus of course you become harder for them to get rid of.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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Right, job security as well, I forgot to mention that perk. Of course it can be difficult, as we have said. I currently only have one system that I am supporting. But I am the only one who has ever worked on it. So I know exactly what is what, where things are, etc., so that makes it a bit simpler. As far as language goes, I have the freedom to choose what I feel is best for the job. It's always between C# and Java, C# being my strong point. But I am familiar enough with Java that, if a task doesn't require a complex backbone, I use Java instead.
I know I will have projects in the future. So at some point I will have multiple projects to maintain. But again, they will all be my own. Not someone else working on it and then I get stuck with maintaining what they created. I think that is really helpful in my position.
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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Matt U. wrote: job security
No one has job security. Anyone who thinks he has job security should be summarily dismissed.
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True, good point. But in the long run I feel more comfortable in my position. And I don't feel like I'm "untouchable." But I do come to work every day and I do the job right. I do my part. Now if only the economy would do its part. 
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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ChrisElston wrote: you become harder for them to get rid of
That didn't stop them from laying me off, but they still call occasionally because they forgot how to configure something.
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Harder, certainly not impossible, and if they do there is often the chance they will have to pay for your time now and then in the future.
Some of it depends on how difficult it is to throw away what you have done and replace with something else.
Other times what has been developed is considered 'finished' and therefore no longer in need of a developer.
Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends.
Shed Petition[ ^]
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Yeah, that's what happened. The product was working perfectly in production (as it should) and I had very little maintenance to do so they didn't see a need to keep me on full time. The product is still a big part of their operations.
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As I just stated in another reply, I am responsible for far more than development. So I have plenty more work to do when the product is fully operational and does not require maintenance. I guess that's the difference with my position. Still, though, I know it does not guarantee my position 100%. Just seems like it's more likely that they will hold on to me.
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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Me. I actually am the developer/CEO/accountant/IT Guy/Customer Support/etc. A one-man show.
Bob Dole The internet is a great way to get on the net.
 2.0.82.7292 SP6a
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So i am. 
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Hehehe I need to pick the brain of someone like you :p
I'm trying to get my first game out and I don't understand the biz side as well as I should. :\
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I have been in the past. And it was good. Most of my college co-op job was like that.
I'm of the opinion that working like that is like being back in school where you're given some rough requirements and you can develop it any way you like and provide whatever features you want.
Matt U. wrote: created an Access database
On a previous job, the HR department had an Access system for randomly picking employees for drug testing. After I got picked "randomly" three times in my first six months (I don't do drugs, I also stayed in school) I looked at the code and it seemed OK. But I decided to write one of my own that would allow (but not force) the user to define weighting so that an employee who was picked recently was less likely to be picked again. A year or so later, when the Access version upped and died (I had nothing to do with it, I swear) my boss asked if I'd like to have them try mine. I installed it and had them try it, I had to add more functionality to the employee import feature forthem, and as far as I know they're still using it.
Where I am now, I keep my sanity by developing a number of utilities that help with the real work.
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I am the entire IT department here. That is network admin, DBA, helpdesk, programmer you name it in IT and I'm it.
It has its perks but it certainly has is downsides as well.
When it comes to programming, the major downside is having absolutely nobody to talk to face to face to bounce ideas or problems off of. And no one to lean on for help. Since I graduated in 2010 with my programming degree(worked for 20 years in an entirely different field and never had anything to do with computers), I do not have years of experience to lean on so Google gets a workout some days.
The upside is mainly, good experience on the resume(two years out of school and one of those years has been as IT manager), I learn a LOT by necessity, and as long as I am doing my job, there is almost zero chance I will get downsized or laid off unless the company goes under.
Flipside to that last one however, if I do screw up, not much question on who did it....
Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder
Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
You can't scare me, I have children.
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I feel your pain on that one. I, too, take care of the majority of general IT work. From a development standpoint, I am also responsible for designing, creating and maintaining the databases used by my projects, as well as the servers they run on. The downside is the fact that only upper management is allowed access to the server room, so I must get an "escort" into it if necessary. However, I can do most of it via a VNC connection, unless it's a hardware issue. I also help out with the majority of computer repairs and so forth throughout the facility. I do have employees who I am allowed to disperse to fix those types of issues though. They don't work *for* me, but upper management has allowed me to freely assign tasks to those who are not already busy, if necessary.
This will definitely be a plus on my resumé. If I can work my way up through the company to where I'd like to be, I probably won't require a college education. However, I may still consider going back to school in order to further my career, whether it's here or elsewhere. 
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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I at least am not burdened with access issues. I in fact control the access to MY servers. 
Being third in rank from the owner of the company does have its benefits sometimes. and no we are not a tiny company. not huge but reasonably sized enough to make a one man show tough some days.
Right now I am fairly satisfied here. As said, there are ups and downs to the situation, but in general I am enjoying being a shark in a swimming pool instead of a small fish in the ocean.
Beauty is in the eye of the beer-holder
Be careful which toes you step on today, they might be connected to the foot that kicks your butt tomorrow.
You can't scare me, I have children.
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It has it's advantages: you don't have to adhere to any coding standards but your own.
It has it's disadvantages: you are responsible for all the mistakes.
On balance, I prefer it - but there are times when I wish there was someone to dump the drudge work on. But then I'd have to check it anyway, so I wouldn't gain much, and the drudge guy would be underutilised so he would be p*ssed off. At least I get peace and quiet!
If you get an email telling you that you can catch Swine Flu from tinned pork then just delete it. It's Spam.
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I guess I fall under that category. I work for a big company, but as far as I know (in my location) there are no other programmers. The work I do now was contracted to an outside source. I work by myself mostly... And I love it. Also, I develop industrial software (machine control, DAQ, and other types of interfaces), not business software. I think if I had to write business software I'd just about rather go flip burgers.
The engineer that I work with 90% of the time just tells me what he wants and then leaves me alone and lets me do it. Then there are a few projects where I'm free to design every aspect of the software.
Overall, I love being a solo developer. I wouldn't want it any other way.
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I used to and hope to again some day. I do like 1 other close developer contact as a sounding board to discuss roadblocks with. Simply discussing the issue often resolves it in my mind.
I started here as a single developer outside the IT mainstream, we now have 13 developers and we are all still outside the mainstream IT department  .
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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I spent 7 years as the lone C++/Win32 coder in a Linux/Java shop and although I felt ghettoized and neglected, I really liked being architect, tester and coder all at once. If only I'd got some of the credit...
Next I was a lone C++ developer in an industial setup with a firmware developer and a couple of hardware designers. I loved that job but in the end I yearned to not be the only person who knew how to fix thousands of lines of mission critical code and fantasized about having someone to ask for help sometimes...
In a fit of curiosity I got a job writing PHP in an ebusiness agile shop. If they hadn't fired me I'd have left, but I did learn to recognize and now avoid 15 minute microtickets, hourly instant message 'standups', weekly performance reviews, video displays with live productivity graphs and remote controlled usb powered nerf canons.
I now work in a small team with responsibility for a key component in a lrge infrastructure project. We collaborate or not depending on what works at the minute. Some of our tickets take 30 seconds, some take 4 months. We don't have standups, we have beer. We're not agile, we're subtile.
I like it. The best of both worlds. Enough rope to hang myself and colleagues to blame mistakes on.
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Not quite a lone developer, but close (and I'm certainly the only one who also does finance, customer support and marketing at the same time. That's what can easily happen when you start your own outfit).
It's a very different pace from the one I endured when I was working in a larger office. No fixed hours (but I have routines that work for me, obviously), 2hr lunch/run breaks most days and quite a few late nights/weekends). I an also of course take a day off without holiday forms and all of that malarkey.
In terms of day to day stuff the way I work is pretty conventional - basically a nest of monitors, dev box, laptop and a pile of servers. I work on (typically) three products, with two live SCC branches for each using (at the moment) VS2008 and Eclipse.
Day to day, the biggest changes are probably the lack of commuting (yay!) and the way we buy stuff - my boss (me) is quite accommodating, so I don't need to spend ages persuading managers "Yes, I actually do need X". The flipside is I have to look at the numbers at the same time, of course. And record all of the paperwork.
Would I go back? Only if I had no other choice or really needed the money (contrary to most people's expectations, starting your own outfit doesn't generally make you rich). In the meantime, I'm far, far more content than I've ever been and the buck stops with me.
I rather like that.
Anna ![Rose | [Rose]](https://codeproject.freetls.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/rose.gif)
Tech Blog | Visual Lint
"Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
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I do feel like my own boss at times. But technically I am not. I am not under any of the production (floor) supervisors. My boss is the Director of Operations, who is over all of the production supervisors. But generally, I handle all of my own work, I make my own decisions when it comes to development. I have a lot of freedom and I really enjoy that. My work gets done when it's supposed to be done and I make sure of that. So in my spare time I'm hanging around CP and Facebook, waiting for my next task.
I told my boss on Monday that I had nothing to do at the moment. He looked at a list of tasks he has for me. But he said, "I'm looking at this list and the current list of tasks are waiting on other people before I can assign them to you." I told him, "that's a small problem I have, I don't pace myself; I finish my work too quickly." Apparently that is a "good 'problem' to have", according to him. Haha. That's fine by me! I try and be productive in my slow times. I'm always researching and experimenting with new technologies and such, in order to improve my value as a developer. I'm pretty much carrying the entire PC Refurb department.
As far as my lunch/breaks, I take them with the production team closest to the office (right outside the office). For holidays, unless the entire facility is closed (e.g. Memorial Day), I am still required to fill out a sheet for "optional holiday." No problem though.
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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That sounds pretty good, though I know from experience you have to be pretty structured in the way you work when you've no-one to fall back on.
That, and at least "good enough" at everything else you are likely to encounter that isn't on your normal career roadmap!
Anna
Tech Blog | Visual Lint
"Why would anyone prefer to wield a weapon that takes both hands at once, when they could use a lighter (and obviously superior) weapon that allows you to wield multiple ones at a time, and thus supports multi-paradigm carnage?"
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