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Howdy, that's almost me! AMA!

I've spent 10 years as the lone dev at a small medical facility, writing database software and dealing with lab hardware etc.

I guess I've touched 100% of the codebase because I wrote it all, but I always wonder if my skillset is so niche that I'll always be at small companies.

Here's the deal though, work isn't everything and I'm at a job that recognises that.

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You wrote it all? By yourself? That sounds ideal to me. The horrible part of this to me is that he inherited a mess and left without having done much to it, evidently being unable to do so for whatever reason. The headline says he "mastered" it, so clearly other forces were at work than his skill. That's the depressing part to me, pulling my hair out to try and understand someone else's antediluvian code base which was built under duress.

I think devs imagine someone else out there is having a better time at their computer than they are. I definitely do.

It also said he only wrote hundreds of lines in 35 years. So maybe one line a month. Either he's a wizard that spins gold from straw or "mastered" is being used ironically. Given that he could be replaced by two juniors I'll assume the latter.

Aah so Arthur is the guy after me!

I envy you. How did you get I to this gig?

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