Ask HN: How do you deal with feeling alone and/or not reaching your potential?

Hey guys, I'm a backend developer in Elixir currently working as a contractor for almost 5 years on multiple projects.

Even when I previously worked in a bigger team, I felt technically alone anyway - usually, I’m the only backend developer in the team. I’m missing some kind of feedback loop, a group of people I could grow my experience and improve my problem-solving skills.

I love to talk about technology, think of better solutions to the problem and implementing such solutions into real-life projects. I’m learning new stuff, going deeper and deeper, but I’m not sure If what I’m applying in my projects is the best solution or even the right way of doing things and I know I’m not reaching my full potential.

Did you manage to create a group of individuals you can talk about technology with and get feedback from and grow with?