Am I damaging my career prospects?

[Cogman]

Forgive me for intruding, I do not code for a living but I would make an observation - the OP has over 15000 posts to his name. Yet he is humble and modest in his question. I wonder if he in fact already knows the answer, is a programming god, and just baiting the rest of us. ;>)

Post count has absolutely nothing to do with programming ability. Some of the most insightful posts I've read here came from degibson when he had something like 100 or 120 posts.

 

[Patterner]

Examples of tests that are too specific or platform agnostic or programming forums?

Sorry, yes, I meant examples of programming fora.

 

[wantedSpidy]

I think having a mentor is a huge plus. I basically am in a similar boat, except at a bigger firm. Worked on 2 projects so far. One with a mentor, and one without. I definitely learned A LOT more from the project in which I had a mentor. Code review sessions, and he would just ask the 'right' questions which made you think.

Having said that working on your own provides you with a different kind of opportunity. An opportunity to get really good at whatever YOU want. If you find something interesting, take you time to learn it COMPLETELY! Best of all, you're getting paid for it.

Once you think you're starting to get bored, start looking at other options. But since you just started, I would avoid moving for at least 12 -15 months.