Recently, a friend of min asked (read: begged) me to come working at his company, in a kind of CTO-like position. I've done odd jobs for this company, and like working there very much (they have fostered a great atmosphere). Due to the nature of the company, most of the employees are unskilled laborers. The tech team currently consists of 2 college students and the aforementiond friend, a CEO with only limited tech experience. I get to stipulate the terms of me working there, so I could probably add a few team members, but it's not likely I'll get to add any seniors to the team, as those are hard to find, and may not be in the budget.
I've learned that growth is very important to me, and in the past I've always grown by working with people with more or equal experience. If I take this job, that style of growth will no longer be available to me. How do other HN-ers improve their tech skills, when they are not surrounded by experienced collegaues?
TLDR; I'm about to reach the top, and I don't know how to grow from there.
When you get there, you are expected to redefine “top”, which has the appearance of making it harder to reach the ceiling, but in actuality has the 4-minute-mile effect of causing those striving to reach the plateau to redouble their efforts and redefine their goals to get there.
Additionally, one would be expected to mentor those most likely to achieve the “top”, or those having trouble overcoming political or socioeconomic barriers to reach the next step on their path to it.
Once you achieve the “top” of your game, it’s over. If you don’t redefine the game or expand the scope of the top position, and help others achieve it, you’re dying professionally.
Directly answering your question: I’m a member of a peer exchange group (https://www.devcolor.org/). My group meets monthly to discuss our challenges and successes, and learn from each others’ experiences. Perhaps this is something you can explore joining, or starting.
Note that you’re never really on top, and you can always learn more.