I felt the need to describe to you the situation in which I find myself, your potential comments will surely help me as well as people in relatively similar situations.
- I work in a startup less than 2 years old, as a junior web developer. We're growing and profitable.
- I was the first developer to join the team, made up of salespeople and administrators (< 5 people), we are now 3 juniors.
- I started web development late, 2 years ago. Made some progress recently, far from enough, lacking fundamentals knowledge for sure.
The problematic situation is as follows:
- I actually have to manage all the web development department + hardware management for ~10 people.
- I do not have a tenth of the skills required for this position.
- Pay is the legal minimum.
- I don't want to let down my great fellow developers but the situation is getting too heavy for me. The workload is so heavy and my/our skills so limited that it is impossible to meet deadlines and development quality standards.
- I can't stand having to change development specifications anymore because the boss(es) change their minds every 4 mornings about the requirements of our software.
- I accepted the job because I thought we were creating a team of more experienced developers, but to reduce costs my superiors want to recruit juniors devs or government-subsidized contracts, so students.
=> Is it acceptable to admit defeat and give up? I'm thinking about finding a cooperative training course with a web dev agency. I need to work with some badass seniors and learn.
I understand that taking a suit that is too big for you and learning to fill it is part of the game, but the gap seems too big to me.
Holding on will potentially allow me to obtain a comfortable position within 3/5 years. But continuing to work like this risks crashing all current development, risks users's data, and my mental health.
What is your feeling? Your feedback?
You are being given the responsibility to manage all of this, without the authority to do so. So here is what I would do:
1. Ask for a title bump. Technology/Project/Services/etc Manager - frame it as other people need to know that you are the person in charge of technology, therefore you need a title to signal that you are the point person for decisions.
2. Insist on being in all high level planning, budget, etc meetings. Frame this request as saying that they are setting less-than-100%-completely-informed deadlines, therefore you need to be in planning meetings so that you can temper expectations and give technology's input.
3. Ask for a department budget so you can purchase what you need. Contractor expertise/books/courses/etc.
4. In the event that you don't get any of these - and I fully expect you won't - start interviewing. You sound like a smart individual who's outgrowing their position and need new challenges, and if they won't give them to you, you need to find another position that will.
Given that the odds of getting a x10 salary are nil, I suggest you put all your efforts on job hunting. Answer all emails/calls with Okay now. Don't worry about the consequences of getting fired because that's the outcome you are hoping for.
Literally minimum wage?
Low pay in start ups is offset with equity. Equity can end up worthless, but at least gives some justification to low pay.
If you are making min wage and have 0 equity.... you are being taken advantage of. Even if you're junior, you have long since proven yourself 2 years in. It's time to start looking.
But, I see an opportunity for you to learn and forge yourself into a very robust engineer. Treat this place as place where you will upskill your self, take risks learn modern technologies. If it solves orgs problem great but if not, you have upskilled yourself. Pick up new product, introduce tools that enable business owners the build or customize their implementation. You can work very hard and take ownership. The fact that you are talking to stakeholders upfront you can push back, learn to logically argue with business owners and stuff.
It depends up whether you feel burned out or not. But I see opportunity. And also, it should ask the stakeholders to get software manager or product owners to structure the roadmap.
Unless you can afford to go without income.
Your company compensates you for work that you've already done. You are not paid in advance. You owe them nothing. Be respectful, professional and polite... but, always do what you feel is the best thing for you.
Or you could suck it up, enjoy your comfy office job and salary, and try to realize how good you have it.