A thought: there's a certain capacity needed to handle the stress of the responsibility for being the sole programmer or even multiple roles. And I bet lots of talent gets lost because people don't have that capacity, even if they are great programmers or wtvr. This is where the culture or social design of the team sounds like it can make a great impact, allowing hires that have the professional skills, but need emotional and psychological support to handle the burden.
I don't have much experience, and I'm curious if this rings true to you or not.
This definitely resonates. Even the most resilient of us face moments and challenges in which we need emotional support or coaching. The absence of that support (whether horizontally from a team, or "vertically" from a manager) can result in exactly what you say: talent "lost".
A thought: there's a certain capacity needed to handle the stress of the responsibility for being the sole programmer or even multiple roles. And I bet lots of talent gets lost because people don't have that capacity, even if they are great programmers or wtvr. This is where the culture or social design of the team sounds like it can make a great impact, allowing hires that have the professional skills, but need emotional and psychological support to handle the burden.
I don't have much experience, and I'm curious if this rings true to you or not.
This definitely resonates. Even the most resilient of us face moments and challenges in which we need emotional support or coaching. The absence of that support (whether horizontally from a team, or "vertically" from a manager) can result in exactly what you say: talent "lost".