Nobody Can Maintain Our Legacy or Niche Stack Anymore. What Now?

Start with what the system needs

An older or niche system usually still does its job. The people who knew it have left, retired or moved on to other work. Before you look for someone, write down four things:

• The stack and the versions. Language, framework, platform and database, and the versions in production. "SAP" or "Delphi" alone is too broad to search on.
• The work. Keeping it running (fixes, changes, connections to newer systems), moving off it, or both. Keeping it running asks for someone who knows the stack and works on it under your direction, part-time if the work is small. Moving off it asks for someone who can read the old system and build the new one, or two people, one who knows the old stack and one who knows the new. When you do both, the person who keeps the old system running also explains it to whoever builds the replacement.
• What is written down. Code in a repository you control, documentation, accounts and access. What isn't written down, a new person rebuilds from the code (see what to do when a key developer left).
• Who directs the work. Someone who can say what to change and check whether the result is good. If that was the person who left, that role comes first (see is our organisation ready for a remote developer?).

Finding someone for an older or niche stack

Local markets for older and niche technologies are small, so a local vacancy for one can stay open a long time. Through Tunga:

• The stacks are in the pool. It includes professionals in Odoo, Salesforce, Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics, embedded and industrial systems, SAP, and older languages such as Delphi or COBOL. These are niche technologies worldwide, so the numbers are smaller than for mainstream web, mobile and data stacks (see roles, stacks and countries).
• The search can take a bit longer. Sometimes the right person isn't available. Tunga tells you at the start how the search for your stack looks.
• You choose. You see the candidates and decide whom to interview and whom to work with.
• You find out quickly. In the first 4 weeks either side can end the engagement at one working day's notice, so you learn early whether someone really knows your version of the stack.
• Tunga carries the next search. If the person leaves later, Tunga finds the next one at no extra cost. For a stack few people know, that search also takes time, and the searching is Tunga's work, not yours.

When another route is better

• One specific senior person to take over the whole system, as architect or lead in a rare stack. That is a search for one profile, usually best done through your own network or a specialised recruiter.
• A migration bought as a project with a fixed result. That is work for the original vendor or an agency that takes on the delivery. Through Tunga, the professionals join your team and you direct the work.

Make the next gap smaller

• Keep the knowledge in your systems. Code, accounts and documentation in the company's own repositories and tools (see only need one developer?).
• Let at least two people know the system. With a second person, even part-time, one departure no longer stops the system.