This week two of my most talented and promising Lead developers resigned within 24 hours of each other. And I couldn’t be happier for them.

Each of them has been offered a fantastic opportunity. An opportunity that they likely wouldn’t have been given without the development I gave them (or at least that’s what I’d like to think). And I know how hard the decision must have been for both of them.

I won’t lie, the fallout from a job sense is going to be a pain. The prospect of the hiring discussions, the interviews and salary talks doesn’t exactly fill me with joy (although to be honest I do enjoy interviewing). The panic and questions that will come from it is going to be intense. “Is there anything we could have done to keep them? Could we have seen/did we see this coming?” I don’t believe this is a “rats fleeing a sinking ship” situation though, I feel it’s much more of a “spreading wings and leaving the nest” thing.

The questions that will be asked feel pointless, in these instances at least. There is little we could do to keep them if they are presented with an opportunity to do something we don’t. We couldn’t have seen it coming if it was an out of the blue offer for them. There may be some value in asking “Why were they open to new opportunities?” but assuming they’ve been truthful in 1-2-1s I don’t think there will be too much there.

I believe in today’s industry we are all open to interesting new opportunities most of the time, especially among the younger generations. The Linkedin cold messaging must work or it wouldn’t be so prevalent. This industry is one where it’s rare for people to stay in a role for more than a couple of years and it’s unrealistic to believe your company or your team is the exception. How you deal with it is by developing your teams, providing internal opportunities and setting up great processes for onboarding and for how you work. You set up a pipeline of developing staff, so whenever you have someone resign, there are others eager and ready to take their place. Of course you should be doing your best to keep people as long as possible but the impact of an individual leaving can be lessened, even in those leadership positions.

The truth is I’m not worried, I’ve already got a couple of internal people I was planning on pushing toward Lead anyway and our hiring process is finding better and better people each round. The internal development pipeline is solid and the organisation is self healing.

I am sad I won’t be working with these guys any more, I spotted them as highly talented and tried to mentor them and develop them as best as I could, I believe I have succeeded. I am proud of what these guys have achieved. I am proud of my developers, and I am excited for them to spread out in the industry and show everyone how awesome they are. And I am just as excited to mentor and train up those that step into their shoes.