"Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive."
Depends on your definition of Big Stuff. If you mean send a rocket to Mars, then yes. But the vast majority of us are working on simple web apps that might call a few apis, yet these seem to require Big Teams. Compare that to what a single game developer might produce, and compare the complexity and performance of the product.
I think we need Big Teams for Small Stuff precisely _because_ of these 'modern development practices' that you mention. Getting things done in these paradigms takes _forever_, so you need a Big Team.
You've made the mistake of believing that you are "part of" the startup. You are just "employed by" the startup - you are not in charge and you can't rely on them for anything. The other side to this equation is you can just quit very easily and get a job somewhere else - you have no responsibility to them other than being professional and seeing out your notice.
Get a job in a bar for a few months, then go back to programming. You're obviously talented - you'll easily get another job.
How to build a very simple web app, using Spring Boot, React, a Redis Cluster, with a scalable microservices AWS Lambda-based back-end architecture. And kubernetes.
> "As we began planning [a child], we literally went to a quiet spot in a local restaurant with a laptop and drew up a spreadsheet of what having a baby would mean. We did this together and planned everything from loss of income due to maternity leave, government parental benefits, the taxation implications of both and even medical expenses and the maintenance cost of a child."
Money is important. But I hope I never get to the point where my mind is as anxious and clinical as this.