You've already lost your job. You may still be drawing a paycheck, but the job you were hired to do no longer exists. Your company has changed, the technology has changed, the economy has changed, and the ways you can add value have changed. Have you adapted to these changes? Or are you at risk?
Architect your career
Economic downturn. Job cuts. Outsourcing. The ever-changing tech landscape. The threats abound. Chad Fowler is here to offer 52 ways to keep your job, despite the vagaries of the market.
It's all about making the right choices. Choosing which technologies to focus on and which business domains to master have at least as much impact on your success as your technical knowledge--don't let those choices be accidental. Chad shows you all aspects of the decision-making process so you can ensure that you're investing your time and energy in the right areas.
It's all about skills. You'll develop a structured plan for keeping your skills up-to-date so that you can compete with both the growing stable of developers in so-called low-cost countries as well as your higher-priced local peers. You'll learn how to shift your skillset up the value chain, from an offshore-ready commodity to one in high demand.
It's all about marketing. As with any product or service, if nobody knows what you're selling, nobody will buy. Chad shows you how to create a plan for marketing yourself both inside your company and to the industry in general.
Like it or not, the IT career landscape has changed. This handbook will teach you what you need to do to avoid being left behind.
About the author Chad Fowler has been a software developer and manager for some of the world's largest corporations. He recently lived and worked in India, setting up and leading an offshore software development center for a large multinational company.
Fantastic career adviceAugust 18, 2010 sb248(Chicago) Really nice book about how to take charge of your IT career. Especially useful for junior programmers.
good advice for programmers at any levelOctober 21, 2009 The Agnostic Sheep Really good book for programmers who don't want to be seen as 'expendable'. Apart from the self-development advice, which is probably obvious to most good programmers; he touches on subjects which aren't so obvious, like managing your perception to non-technical people, i.e. it's doesn't matter how good you are, if your boss, who may not be technical doesn't understand what value you're adding to the company, then you're expendable. Good advice for those of us who are hard core techies who don't want to play office politics to get ahead.
generic repetitive adviceDecember 24, 2008 DarkReader 2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I regret the time spent reading this book.
Only somebody with a very high opinion of himself could try to share such commonplace and generic ideas.
You would do better by spending your time reading on of the following books which actually provide concrete advice on becoming better at our craft:
-The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
-Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction by Steve McConnell
-Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World by Venkat Subramaniam and Andy Hunt
52 Ways to be the "Best of the Best"August 30, 2008 SF Dreamer This book was a much needed wakeup call with respect to the realities of software engineering and the international market for those skills. We all understand that international competition is driving businesses to reduce costs by outsourcing software engineering projects, but few U.S. software engineers have a plan for countering the effects of this outsourcing. Chad Fowler's first hand experience managing outsourcing teams in India allows him to provide a unique cultural and professional perspective with the survival techniques needed by U.S. software engineers. From the content of this book, it is apparent that Chad Fowler is experienced, current and knowledgeable in the magical and demanding art of software engineering management. This book provides 52 bullets of behaviors/practices for evolving into the "best of the best" in order to insulate yourself from the impacts of outsourcing - and he justifies each of these with real world examples. This book is a great companion to the masterpiece book "Pragmatic Programmer" by Hunt and Thomas, which addresses the craft of software engineering with equally convincing justifications and examples.
Insightful, great career advice for a beginnerAugust 30, 2008 Alex Ivanov(Fairfax VA) I just graduated from college and started working as a developer for a software company. Life in college is very different from professional life. I felt a little lost and wasn't sure how to manage my time at work and outside of work. I wasn't sure about how the world works outside of college. This book gave me some good advice and guidance. It is also a fun read and contains some useful facts and moral lessons.
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