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I am working as a single software developer for a company with ~100 employees. I finished all projects and redid all kinds of documentation and improvements to a degree where I can't meaningfully continue. For several weeks there is pretty much nothing to do, I started some pet projects to educate myself on new programming languages.

My supervisor is the CEO and he said I can manage myself, I should not contact him regarding the tasks I should do. I am also afraid to inform him about the fact that there was nothing to do for weeks, it would raise the question why the company needs me at all.

Should I just continue with pet projects and educate myself ? I don't know what I should do.

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  • You can do whatever you want. For most people spending 100% of the time not doing any real work for your company eventually has negative consequences.
    – sf02
    Nov 17, 2021 at 14:52
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    I wish there would be something to do because doing nothing for 40 hours a week is very mind-numbing and not fullfilling.
    – FortyTwo
    Nov 17, 2021 at 14:59
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    The company needs you partly for your knowledge and familiarity, and ability to apply yourself when necessary to fix or modify existing systems effectively. Beyond that, perhaps they're expecting you to use some initiative? There's nothing wrong with developing your own skills and knowledge, or experimenting with something. The CEO obviously has total confidence in you.
    – Steve
    Nov 17, 2021 at 15:40
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    @FortyTwo is this some sort of internship? how come you report directly to the CEO?
    – DarkCygnus
    Nov 17, 2021 at 15:49
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    You could basically do what ever you want, but company may not pay you for that , as you figured out yourself :) In situation like that it is best to "invent" a problem that needs to be solved. Of course you could do your pet projects but make sure to keep appearance of someone doing something useful for the company.
    – rs.29
    Nov 18, 2021 at 1:26

3 Answers 3

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I do not believe there is no work for a software developer in a company of that size. If you are supposed to manage yourself, start doing that. Show some initiative. Go talk to colleagues, starting with mid-level managers. Inform yourself about their processes and needs. Come up with ways how you can support these and bring value to the company.

Alternatively, start searching for a new job.

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So you have 100% test coverage on all systems in your company? Your security team have found no issues at all on any systems?

Nah. I cannot believe this. So; you can work on the following;

  1. Improve test coverage
  2. Improve CD/CI processes
  3. Improve software security. If you don't have a software security team, become one
  4. Talk to division/area managers about their pain points (which may or may not lead to a development project)
  5. Work on professional development certificates
  6. Keep timesheets

Number 6 is quite important, for that one day when the CEO calls you in and asks what you did this week/month/quarter. Prove that you've been working behind the screens to improve the company, and you will probably keep your job. If they don't see the value in your work, another company will.

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    This might work in some situations, but if software, test systems, build servers, etc, are being actively maintained by other teams you can't just go in there and make changes. In terms of office politics it's also risky to be treading on people's toes, e.g. if they have an existing security team don't try and do their job, and definitely don't launch your own personal security tests on production servers.
    – Stuart F
    Nov 18, 2021 at 11:17
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Think about it as an opportunity to show leadership and vision. Work on pet projects but pick it in a way such that it would be meaningful to the company. May be improvement of product features/technology or development of an app for existing features, automation, etc.

At some point someone will ask you what you have been doing all this time and you should have an answer which would prove your value and not raise a question on your role.

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