The Loneliness of Being the Only Dev in the Room

Nobody writes about this. Maybe because the people who live it are too busy being the only ones who can fix the WiFi. There's a specific kind of loneliness that has no name yet. It's not the loneliness of working remotely. It's not the loneliness of being an introvert in an open-plan office. It's sharper than both of those and quieter. It's the loneliness of being the only developer in a company full of people who don't speak your language — and never will. You didn't notice it at first The job sounded exciting. A real company. Real problems. And you—the person who could actually build things—walking in like someone who finally has superpowers in a world that needs them. The first few months felt like that. You shipped things. People were impressed. Someone in a meeting called you "our tech guy/girl", and you smiled because it felt like belonging. Then, slowly, quietly, you started to notice. There was no one to review your pull requests. Not because people were lazy — but because nobo