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The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World Review by Jim Anderton
Recommended reading for programmers new and old
Being a good coder has a lot to do with activities other than writing code. Don't get me wrong, I love learning about and experimenting with new products and technologies and my idea of the perfect day involves coffee, headphones, my code editor, and a good juicy coding challenge. In fact, sometimes I think it's the programming that's the easy part of this job. It's all the non-coding stuff that is so hard to master. This is what The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World, Second Edition is all about. This book is about improving every aspect of your programming job except the coding itself (actually, it might do that too.) The topics in this book are the things we tend not to talk about because we're always focused on learning about the next acronym.
Are you one of the many programmers out there who do it for fun? Maybe you're just considering getting into programming? Maybe you're getting tired of corporate life and considering options. This book will help you consider what you're doing and quite possibly cause you to make some positive changes in your career. Whatever your situation, why not make the most of it?
While I liked this book very much, I do think Duncan painted an overly pessimistic picture of the corporate world at times. That said, all his points were very valid, even those that were a bit over the top.
Check out the sample chapter on the Apress site to get a feel for the author's writing style. Just to give you a flavor for the book, here are a few of my favorite section/chapter titles.
- So You Thought You'd Just Be Coding All Day, Eh?
- Why People Run Businesses and Pay Programmers
- Taking Control of Your Time
- Preventing Arbitrary Deadlines
- Getting Your Requirements Etched in Stone
- Preparations for Effective Information Gathering
- The Myth of the Eight-Hour Day
- Controlling Your Destiny
Duncan tells it like it is (or, at least, how it can be at times.) His writing style is enjoyable and easy to read. And, there are more than a few Chihuahua jokes. One can never have too many of those... Highly recommended reading!