I can identify strongly with the situation you describe in your post. I have been with my current employer for almost one year and I don't have the impression I can grow as an engineer there.
However, I see myself as one of the stronger coders in my team. I come to that conclusion, since colleagues and managers come to me when they have difficult questions or tasks to get solved. This also supports my impression, that I can provide knowledge to the company while I can't get much knowledge back.
In my current project, we don't have pull requests or code reviews at all. Everyone just commits onto trunk (yes, we have svn instead of git). If the code contains errors, it will be noticed when someone is trying to use the code. Rudimentary tests have been written (mostly because I insisted to do so). Also we don't have CI.
I have tried to establish more modern software engineering processes including PRs and code reviews, but could not find much resonance in the team. Mostly I get the response changing the process takes too long, because people have to learn new tools and workflows and we have hard deadlines to meet.
I still try to do my best work everyday, but I feel very restricted in that environment to develop professionally. Do you have any advice on how I can still make the best out of my situation?
I think you can still have knowledge back, in fact very much. Being a mentor for the others and showing the way to go is an invaluable experience.
Of course, for that, you need an open audience. Which you are missing if my understanding is correct.
In my previous teams, I simply did what I felt right and little by little like-minded folks we found each other and we grew together and we raised the bar for the whole team if we could. I'd lie if I said we could all the time. But I saw some people having careers turned around and who became good that kind of people who try to get better all the time. I think, one person is already a success. Maybe he'd help another.
If you completely miss the open ears, I think you have to convince management that what you are trying to introduce will save them money even in mid-term. Bugs discovered earlier, easier maintenance, better documentation (through tests) are worth a lot of money. Code Simplicity: The Fundamentals of Software can give you a lot of examples of good arguments.
Focus on what value you can provide to the business using modern engineering practices and managers will help you change the way the team works.
If you still face deaf ears, maybe it's a sign that it's time to move on. As one of my former bosses told me, sometimes the best thing is to find another place.
Anyway, I wish you good luck and that you will be able to change how your team works. You'll provide a great service with that for everyone involved!
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I can identify strongly with the situation you describe in your post. I have been with my current employer for almost one year and I don't have the impression I can grow as an engineer there.
However, I see myself as one of the stronger coders in my team. I come to that conclusion, since colleagues and managers come to me when they have difficult questions or tasks to get solved. This also supports my impression, that I can provide knowledge to the company while I can't get much knowledge back.
In my current project, we don't have pull requests or code reviews at all. Everyone just commits onto trunk (yes, we have svn instead of git). If the code contains errors, it will be noticed when someone is trying to use the code. Rudimentary tests have been written (mostly because I insisted to do so). Also we don't have CI.
I have tried to establish more modern software engineering processes including PRs and code reviews, but could not find much resonance in the team. Mostly I get the response changing the process takes too long, because people have to learn new tools and workflows and we have hard deadlines to meet.
I still try to do my best work everyday, but I feel very restricted in that environment to develop professionally. Do you have any advice on how I can still make the best out of my situation?
Thanks for your comment, Senpo.
I think you can still have knowledge back, in fact very much. Being a mentor for the others and showing the way to go is an invaluable experience.
Of course, for that, you need an open audience. Which you are missing if my understanding is correct.
In my previous teams, I simply did what I felt right and little by little like-minded folks we found each other and we grew together and we raised the bar for the whole team if we could. I'd lie if I said we could all the time. But I saw some people having careers turned around and who became good that kind of people who try to get better all the time. I think, one person is already a success. Maybe he'd help another.
If you completely miss the open ears, I think you have to convince management that what you are trying to introduce will save them money even in mid-term. Bugs discovered earlier, easier maintenance, better documentation (through tests) are worth a lot of money. Code Simplicity: The Fundamentals of Software can give you a lot of examples of good arguments.
I wrote about why coding guidelines are good for your team which might give some other arguments that you can use.
Focus on what value you can provide to the business using modern engineering practices and managers will help you change the way the team works.
If you still face deaf ears, maybe it's a sign that it's time to move on. As one of my former bosses told me, sometimes the best thing is to find another place.
Anyway, I wish you good luck and that you will be able to change how your team works. You'll provide a great service with that for everyone involved!