| > What happens when a solely-responsible engineer quits a startup? - The management will try its best to keep the person. Raises, counter-offers, benefits will be put on the table. - The management will try its best to delay the leave until a replacement is found. - A sudden increase of communication and praise from the management. > How does the replacement process work? It depends on the contract. Some companies can use the notice period as defense. Some can hold you for as long as 6 months, using that period to keep you as well as find and train your replacement. Some companies won't let you leave unless a replacement has been found and trained to a sufficient level. This goes as far as making you find the replacement instead of the management. --- Normally, there wouldn't be a "solely-responsible engineer". If the startup was managed correctly, there will be at least one other person who knows what the other person is working on. That way, even if the weakest link falls off, the entire company doesn't suddenly tip over. Startup people have fancy names for these things. A team that knows a bit of what everyone else is working on is called a "cross-functional team". A developer that's part of that team is a "full-stack developer". It's just a fancy way of saying a developer in this team has more work to patch up management and HR issues like say, losing someone suddenly. |