I am a sole designer at the company I work at, and I am also right out of College. Fortunately, the company I work for has a history of working with some really good designers, and all of the engineers I work with understand ID and are embracing it. I’ve also received a lot of support from upper management to implement things I feel are important and I am getting a ton of experience that I would have never been able to get in a well established roll. When I was still in college, I would tell my professors about what I was doing and they seemed really impressed about what I was learning at such a fast pace. It’s definitely not easy, and the biggest issue is not having an outlet to bounce ideas off of and receive real critique. I will say though that my experience seems to be different from AndyMc in that some of my design skills have actually gotten better (Sketching), and I believe my communication skills have actually excelled rapidly because I had to learn very quickly how to communicate heavily with non-designers. I used to be a little bit worried that I was “missing out” but fortunately we work with some companies and my friends work with some companies who are heavily designed focused, and it doesn’t seem like I’m missing much. I will say, I was in an internship though that I was the only designer (as an intern 
) and It was a constant uphill battle. I would say my situation is unique, but I think being a sole designer can be a positive thing. Oh! And also, I obtained a mentor early on that has a huge design background, that has helped immensely!