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Is it okay to refuse getting involved in a project with no senior developer?

6 points by aknalid ↗ HN
Just curious. I am a newbie programmer (especially web dev).

The owners expect a lot of me, and after realizing that I couldn't deliver features etc. on their schedule, I told them that they need a senior programmer to come into the team and if anything show ME around.

Basically, the old developer bailed on them and they are hesitant about developers now.

Is this the correct approach in this scenario?

Any experience? Tips?

7 comments

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brianwawok
I mean.. if you were a restaurant and your head chef quit.. and you only had 4 dishwashers left in the kitchen, what would you do? Send the dishwasher to cook?
bbcbasic
Sounds like they never had a head chef. An analogy would be you run a small cafe on your own, then you hire one person to be chef, barista, floor sweeper, dishwasher, security guard, book keeper, customer service manager, ...

Of course then you need to read the emyth book.

Raphmedia
By not hiring a senior developer and only paying you, they are spending less money. It should be expected that you will deliver the features slower. That is why you are not getting paid the same thing. Now, it's their job to figure if it's better for them to have only you or to hire someone else.

If you are working your hardest, don't lose sleep over the fact that you cannot meet deadlines.

It is alright to challenge schedules. They may be used to have a certain pace, however that pace need to change if they are not willing to replace the senior dev. that bailed.

That being said, be the senior. Fake it.

bbcbasic
This is a good opportunity to learn by 'baptism' of fire, and if you can learn fast you can accelerate your path to senior developer. In a bigger org you may be forced to spend years getting to senior developer, but it sounds like you can get there quicker with the responsibility you have here.

There is the stress of dealing with complex code and frameworks as a newbie, with the owner breathing down your neck. So try to negotiate more time for each task, and time for learning general web development. E.g. if they use AngularJS say you need a couple of days to learn it from tutorials etc.

If they are complete assholes about it and pressure you with 'just get it done' 'we need it done by end of day' 'why is this taking so long' then maybe it is time to look elsewhere for a job.

In any case look at this job in terms of if it is good for your career (and more importantly, your mental health!) and if you thrive on high pressure fast learning or prefer to work for a bigger company that has the resources to give you more time.

Out of curiosity how many devs are working there? Is it one man and his dog, and you?

bbcbasic
Following on from this, a good lesson I have learned is to try to work for profitable companies. You want the $ profit per employee to be as high as possible. I have worked for companies that struggled to make a profit, and guess what they underhire and underpay. I have worked for companies that make good profits and they hire just right and pay nice salary or bonuses.

The follow-on from this is to try to work for companies with good recurring revenue models that are efficiently run. Warning signs are companies that rely too much on one off big sales instead of a broad base of customers. Also another problem is consultancies who are hiring out your time and need you to be 100% billable.

The other warning sign is very small companies that are bootstrapping with tight owners who want to have lots of potential upside in the future by exploiting employees to make them do the work of many people in the early days while giving no little or no equity. Read up on HN and blogs about peoples experience with this, there is a lot written about it.

mrcold
Yes, it's the correct approach. Always tell them when you can't deliver and why. Communication is key when working in a team. If they understand and address the issues, count your blessings and consider yourself lucky. If they get mad and unreasonable, leave and find a new job. It's better for you, both now and in the future.
davismwfl
Yep, overall. Be up front, communicate it is not something you are as experienced with so it takes you more time and you are having to learn some new skills. Show them you can do it, but be honest with your estimates and be up front that you will likely make mistakes. Also, tell them when you are running behind before they are expecting something to be complete.

My most important piece of advice though is don't feel like you have to say yes to every request when they bring it to you. That doesn't mean you are telling the owners "no". It means saying something more like, I'll write that down but I am so busy doing X that I won't get to it for at least Y days/weeks. And remind them that if they were to bring in a senior dev it would speed up the process and help you as well.

As long as they are not abusing you, I'd say go for it and use the opportunity to learn. But as bbcbasic pointed out, some companies will try to take advantage of you (abuse you), so keep your eyes out for that as I would be looking for an exit if that starts.