I was in a similar position for the first half of my career.

1) Start contributing heavily to a popular open source project you're familiar with and use. Try to make your PRs as high quality as possible. You'll get free code reviews from some of the best engineers in the world doing this. That'll be a million times better than ChatGPT code reviews and you'll be able to learn a ton from it while also getting your code into production at thousands to millions of companies in the world that depend on the open source project/s you choose to contribute to.

2) Fill holes in your knowledge base. If you feel weak in a particular area like networking or DSA then study and practice with it until you no longer feel weak in that area. If you were on my team I would try to assign tasks to you to help you naturally build out knowledge and confidence in your weak areas but without someone to do that for you, you'll need to try to figure out your own weaknesses.

3) Always try to do your best when working professionally. This is all any of us can ever do and if you actively practice it then it'll become a habit that will guide you toward success in any environment.

Couple of important lessons that will keep you in good stead for a long time:

1. Learn how to learn well, continuously, and sustainably. Tech changes rapidly. And you will want to hop from one domain to another, just for keeping things interesting and to move with markets. This is both a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing because you can start late and still be in the top percentile if you have the brains and work hard for it. It is a curse because you will be doing this no matter how many years of experience you have.

2. Hone your non-technical skills– caution: these are compounding over time (both good and bad habits) – being disciplined, thinking clearly, articulating clearly, being professional, being trustworthy, managing your physical and mental health, being dependable/reliable, having a growth mindset, thriving in ambiguity and uncertainty etc. then, honing your communication skills – effectively collaborating with people, give/receive effective feedback, do/get mentoring/coaching, working with cross-functional people, working with very seniors, very juniors, peers etc. read a lot, develop mental models, deeply craft your personal approach to first principles problem solving, to making tradeoffs/bets etc.

You can do the above all by yourself, through reading, and observing people from afar, and engaging with people (even strangers on forum like this one) in dialog.

I'll speak for software development, but in principle it's the same for any other domain.

Read about your technologies. A lot.

When I started working (about 3 to 4 years) , I spent 20-30 minutes a day reading DZone articles about Java, software design, architecture, OOP. Persist and do it daily. Repetition and habit are key.

And be focused. Understand everything in every article, do not accept not understanding everything. For each article, try to find out whether it makes sense, try to understand what the author wants to tell you. Think about how you would have done it. When possible, apply what seems to be useful and overcome the limitations of what is written /proposed in the article.

Occasionally, do the same with IT books instead of articles.

Then explore further, for example, find out how certain popular OOP patterns may be replaced by other, equivalent, patterns in FP. Think about how OOP classes are equivalent or not to closures in FP.

Also, become an expert in fundamental practices, like transaction management.

Application of theory is key.

That's how you do it.

Craving for a team of more senior people to learn from, "yodas" who guide you - is a fallacy. I hear younger people mentioning it in interviews constantly as to what they dream team would look like.

You can learn from everyone around you, regardless of their status. There is no "universal developer experience curve", everyone has more or less knowledge on a field or with a specific tool/framework.

You can learn almost everything alone - I mean learning from the web. There are great forums, groups, discord chats, ask LLMs carefully and check on the answers. It may sound reassuring that someone watches your back and won't allow mistakes or would help clean up a mess, but you should not keep relying on this anyway. Learning by doing and taking responsibility will make you much more self assured, which is actually most of what makes someone senior.

> But even then, I'm afraid I am not producing the software to the highest standards of the industry

Realistically, you’re not, but does that matter at all to the company? I’ve had your role in a small company, the job wasn’t really about the tech. Unless there is a dedicated product manager, that is your role now too, and it’s one to take seriously.

You have enviable freedom, do not waste it. Be straight with your boss and explain the tradeoffs regarding availability / tech debt / accuracy you may be making and why.

Above all, understand the business, how your boss sees it, and anticipate their needs.