The Passionate Programmer

The Passionate Programmer

by Chad Fowler
Released May 2009
Publisher(s): Pragmatic Bookshelf
ISBN: 9781680505108

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Book description

Success in today's IT environment requires you to view your career as a business endeavor. In this book, you'll learn how to become an entrepreneur, driving your career in the direction of your choosing. You'll learn how to build your software development career step by step, following the same path that you would follow if you were building, marketing, and selling a product. After all, your skills themselves are a product.

The choices you make about which technologies to focus on and which business domains to master have at least as much impact on your success as your technical knowledge itself--don't let those choices be accidental. We'll walk through all aspects of the decision-making process, so you can ensure that you're investing your time and energy in the right areas.

You'll develop a structured plan for keeping your mind engaged and your skills fresh. You'll learn how to assess your skills in terms of where they fit on the value chain, driving you away from commodity skills and toward those that are in high demand. Through a mix of high-level, thought-provoking essays and tactical "Act on It" sections, you will come away with concrete plans you can put into action immediately. You'll also get a chance to read the perspectives of several highly successful members of our industry from a variety of career paths.

As with any product or service, if nobody knows what you're selling, nobody will buy. We'll walk through the often-neglected world of marketing, and you'll create a plan to market yourself both inside your company and to the industry in general.

Above all, you'll see how you can set the direction of your career, leading to a more fulfilling and remarkable professional life.

Table of contents

  1. The Passionate Programmer
  3. For the Best Reading Experience...
  4. ​
  5. Table of Contents
  6. What Readers Are Saying About The Passionate Programmer
  7. Foreword
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Introduction
    1. Failure Is Off the Radar!
    2. You Own It
    3. New Edition
  10. Part 1: Choosing Your Market
    1. Lead or Bleed?
    2. Supply and Demand
    3. Coding Don’t Cut It Anymore
    4. Be the Worst
    5. Invest in Your Intelligence
    6. Don’t Listen to Your Parents
    7. Be a Generalist
    8. Be a Specialist
    9. Don’t Put All Your Eggs in Someone Else’s Basket
    10. Love It or Leave It
  11. Part 2: Investing in Your Product
    1. Learn to Fish
    2. Learn How Businesses Really Work
    3. Find a Mentor
    4. Be a Mentor
    5. Practice, Practice, Practice
    6. The Way That You Do It
    7. On the Shoulders of Giants
    8. Automate Yourself into a Job
  12. Part 3: Executing
    1. Right Now
    2. Mind Reader
    3. Daily Hit
    4. Remember Who You Work For
    5. Be Where You’re At
    6. How Good a Job Can I Do Today?
    7. How Much Are You Worth?
    8. A Pebble in a Bucket of Water
    9. Learn to Love Maintenance
    10. Eight-Hour Burn
    11. Learn How to Fail
    12. Say “No”
    13. Don’t Panic
    14. Say It, Do It, Show It
  13. Part 4: Marketing… Not Just for Suits
    1. Perceptions, Perschmeptions
    2. Adventure Tour Guide
    3. Me Rite Reel Nice
    4. Being Present
    5. Suit Speak
    6. Change the World
    7. Let Your Voice Be Heard
    8. Build Your Brand
    9. Release Your Code
    10. Remarkability
    11. Making the Hang
  14. Part 5: Maintaining Your Edge
    1. Already Obsolete
    2. You’ve Already Lost Your Job
    3. Path with No Destination
    4. Make Yourself a Map
    5. Watch the Market
    6. That Fat Man in the Mirror
    7. The South Indian Monkey Trap
    8. Avoid Waterfall Career Planning
    9. Better Than Yesterday
    10. Go Independent
  15. Chapter 1: Have Fun
  16. Appendix 1: Resources
    1. You May Be Interested In…

Product information

  • Title: The Passionate Programmer
  • Author(s): Chad Fowler
  • Release date: May 2009
  • Publisher(s): Pragmatic Bookshelf
  • ISBN: 9781680505108