I am working on a software project where I am the only developer. I was an employee for 3 years, working with team 3 to 5. Then, everybody left and so did I. I continued to do some contract work for the company. I have stepped my toes in another company as a junior contractor (started writing Java, my professional employment revolved around PHP webshops), and left because I didn't fit in that well.

I couldn't get them to guide me when I needed it, instead, my PR's were rejected saying: "Don't see any value", or "This feature is incomplete and undocumented". Also, when I did specify in my comments "Feedback appreciated", I felt that my work was nitpicked way more than of their own, which I saw as double standards. In the end, my self-esteem went down a lot, I couldn't keep working with them and left. I got back to my previous contract work where I experiment and continue working on the same project (PHP), working on an old legacy system that needs improvements. How do I keep learning and continue work as a sole developer? One way is to learn from books, but I realize learning from smarter people has tremendous value.

At the same time I feel that maintaining a live legacy system can contribute to my experience improving the existing projects and provide value for the company (bugfixes, refactoring and improving stability).

I'd appreciate an opinion on that.