Customer Reviews

Land the Tech Job You Love (Pragmatic Life)

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I'm very happy that I purchased this book. It gives a sensible, clear rundown of the steps to take to put yourself in the best position possible to get the job that you want.

The book touches on finding a job that you actually WANT, preparing your resume and cover letter, researching a company, and the interview process--you know, the stuff that seems incredibly simple until you actually sit down to do it. The advice given is practical and could apply to most fields, although the author does address specific concerns for those applying for tech jobs. I enjoyed the clarity of the author's writing.

My husband's a programmer--I purchased the book with him in mind--and thus far the book has been very helpful in his ongoing job search.

Highly recommended.

I read this book from the perspective of a former developer who's now responsible for hiring and managing developers. Having been on both sides of the fence now I feel confident in saying that Andy's written a book that's great for everyone in the tech industry.

The writing here is direct, unintimidating and no-nonsense. Andy knows what geek job seekers need to hear and--more importantly--how to say it so they'll actually listen. At each point he doesn't simply say "do this" but he also includes the oft-overlooked WHY. This sort of insight helps technically-minded folk grok the problem in fullness, allowing them to adapt their approach to the specific company/job at hand rather than simply rattling off canned answers. In essence, he's broken the job-getting process into a set of well-defined use cases, each with fully documented business logic.

As I said, this is a book for everyone. As a hiring manager reading this book I constantly found myself thinking of ways in which my own department/company could improve its own hiring and interviewing processes. After reading this book I now feel better prepared to get the right person for our team. It's very obvious that Andy fully understands the hiring managers' point of view. The first time he said (paraphrased), "The hiring manager WANTS to hire you: interviewing for a position is a pain in the ass that she'd rather be done with" I practically applauded. That sort of perspective is necessary to get the point across to the job seeker that we're all in this together.

In summary, this is a great book, an engaging read and well worth your time to pick up. I believe so fully enough that I've already purchased it for a friend in need of a change of professional venue.

Andy Lester comes at this topic from a unique perspective - that of a manager, and that of a programmer. He's in a unique perspective to discuss both what the programmer is looking for in a position, and what a manager is looking for in an employee.

This book moves step-by-step, beginning with figuring out what you want. From there, you move on to resumes, your online presence, portfolios, job listings, interviews, and keeping on top of your game.

Andy does a great job of covering it all step by step, so that younger coders who may be newer to the process catch all the right information, but in a cheerful and friendly tone that doesn't patronize more experienced professionals for whom some of the content might be a healthy review.

Buy this book. Andy Lester provides useful and practical information, while inspiring confidence and reassuring you that you are quite in control when it comes to the job hunt. Enjoy!

At least 40 hours of our week are spent behind a desk. And sometimes we're lucky, and that time behind feels like play. And sometimes, we're not so lucky, and we feel like we're in prison. Andy Lester's, "Land the Tech Job You Love," emphasizes that those 40 hours do not have to be a drudgery... they can be, and should be enjoyable, productive, challenging, and helping us to become better in our field.

Written in a conversational style, "Land the Tech Job You Love" walks the reader through all of the phases of the job search, from thinking through what it is you want in a job, and on to helping you craft a detailed resume, preparing you for the interview, and waiting for that offer of the job that you will love. He focuses on the details of each aspect, helping the reader to understand that it is in the particular details of your successes that your 'awesomeness' will shine through to the hiring manager.

I only wish I had found this book sooner, but it's been timely and a close companion as I've walked through the aftermath of being laid-off. "Land the Tech Job that you Love" has helped me prepare a detailed resume, full of quantifiable facts (and not just generic 'I am a great designer' statements), which then carries over into how I prepare for the interview. Every 'success' statement has a story, and every story I share about past experiences, highlights a strength.

Buy this book--even if you have the Job You Love. Techies, designers, engineers and others would not go wrong having this book on their bookshelf. Although, I'd suggest reading it first before you shelve it away. In the pages of the book, you'll find a job coach you never knew you had.

Programmers, project managers and graphic designers have a harder time finding and landing a job: companies are demanding, the competition is smart and resourceful, and standard skills and approaches likely don't work in the tech industry. That's why Land the Tech Job You Love is a key acquisition for computer and business libraries alike: it tells how to locate the right job, understand the hidden jobs market of the tech industry, and shows what works and why. Real-life stories pepper an account covering everything from interviews to the kind of technical job likely to make you happy.

Land The Tech Job You Love tells why many of the things I'd always thought were important don't apply now and didn't really make sense back when I was told they were the right way to find a job. It also gives you things to do while you're satisfied with your job, so you won't be caught by surprise if your situation changes.

The insights and wisdom that Andy Lester has put together in this book jump out at you, make you say "Of course! How come I never looked at it that way before?"

It's well written and it's a page-turner. The real-life examples from the hiring manager's perspective and Andy's clear, understandable writing drew me in and almost without noticing it, I'd read the book cover to cover. This is the first job-hunting book I can say that about.

Whether you're looking for a tech job now or not, you need Land The Tech Job You Love on your bookshelf. It's the key to being ready when the time comes to find the job that you've always known was out there.

My college had a *really* great career center, and I have interviewed dozens of people during my career, so I thought that I already knew everything about finding and interviewing for a job. I decided to give this book a whirl anyways, and I'm really glad that I did.

Pros:

* It is really well-written - The author is good and he keeps you engaged throughout the entire book.
* It covers a lot of ground - Not only does it cover finding and landing a job, it even gives you great advice about quitting your current job.
* Good balance - The book is verbose enough to be very useful, but brief enough to keep you from being bored to death.

Cons: None really that I can think of.

I first heard of Andy through the Pragmatic Programmer community and literature and began following his blog [....]) and tweets ([....]). I really enjoyed what we wrote there and in the PragProg magazine ([....]). I was excited to see he was speaking at the Chicago Nerd Group on Landing the Tech Job You Love. I really enjoyed the talk and subsequently the book. (I'm happy to say that I now have a tech job I love!)

The book opens with a bulleted summary of its major points on the inside cover such as: think for yourself. question everything, including this book. think like the hiring manager. be positive / don't speak ill of others. keep your resume up to date, highlight the important stuff first, bold the keywords, use metrics, and NO 'objective' section. use your contacts.

The book can easily function as a workbook (and perhaps should be). It's sections are

Intro: The Fireman Who Loved his Job
I. The Job Search
1. The Foundation of Your Job Search
2. What do you want in a job?
3. Resume Content: Getting the Words Down
4. Building Your Resume Documents
5. Finding Your Job
6. Applying for the Job.

II. The Interview and Beyond
7. Preparing for the interview
8. The Interview
9. Handling The Tough Interview Questions
10. Too Much Informatin
11. After the Interview: The Job Offer and Beyond
12. Staying Hirable

Appendices
A. Meaningless Cliches to Avoid
B. Resume, Cover Letter, and Email Killers
C. Interview Killers
D. Web Resources
E. Bibliography
Index

Andy's tone in the book is commonsensical and familiar (as he also is in person). Peppered through his points, such as putting first on your resume what you want your potential employer to see, are anecdotes, such as someone who didn't want to leave a gap in his work history, and included his current job driving the mosquito truck. More important than filling in the gap from the last tech job is highlighting your tech experience and skills! (You may be remembered as the guy with the mosquito truck job, but is that what you want to stick in their minds?)

Think like the hiring manager. (He or she wants to find the right person, too!)

There are no resume police (but has advice on what to include and what to exclude, including a kind of worksheet on building identifying what you're looking for, inventorying your skills, and putting the resume together, such as using a searchable name and using a decent email address). Have a cover letter!

Apply to jobs you want. Research the company and the job. Don't apply everywhere! (And remember that listings on job board generate hundreds if not thousands of responses. You'll be heavily screened. Don't expect your resume to be carefully read, so design it for that).

Contribute to open source. --> though you should bring a code sample to an interview, even better if you can say "I wrote XX" and they respond "Oh, I use that". Include links to your public repositories.

Be honest with others "you must not lie or be false at any time. It is a sure recipe for getting fired or having a very unhappy relationship". e.g. Don't say you know J2EE if you done Java (but not J2EE), or if you took a tutorial, or ran a program once.

There's advice on interview questions to ask, what you can expect to be asked, what's illegal to be asked (family stuff etc.), what's reasonable to be asked (salary history? don't share), how to dress, how to shake hands, how to negotiate, accepting the offer or getting rejected, and using *good* references. Don't panic at the interview if you don't know something. You wouldn't be there if you didn't have the minimal skill set they're looking for.

Lastly, stay hirable, keep up your network (and how to ask for help looking), and improve yourself!

It's a short book worth spending time working over and internalizing. I highly recommend it!

Andy Lester has written a great book about finding a job you love in any market. He thinks it's just for technical people, but he's wrong. It's for anyone who wants to find a job that he or she can love.

The first section is all about preparing to interview: knowing what you want in a job, creating your resume, building your resume in Word, html, and text. Yes, your potential employers may want more than one version, so write it and make sure it looks good in all three versions. In the section called "Finding Your Job," Andy says,

"Your most important tool in finding a job is relationships with other people."

He's right. And, the chapter about building your network, creating and building relationships has great ideas about how to build your network in a variety of ways.

I love the section called "The Interview and Beyond." Andy's advice shines here. From clearing your schedule, to all the other preparation (selling the interviewer on you, answering tough questions, compiling and bringing a relevant portfolio, which questions you want to ask), the idea is that if you are prepared, the interview is now on your terms. (He's got a great sidebar on how to shake hands.)

Chapter 9 is called "Handling the Tough Interview Questions." Here, Andy delves into what to do and, especially, not do. In the section, "The Tough Questions", Andy provides examples of what not to say and what to say when you encounter the "Tell Me About Yourself" question. With Andy's empathy for the hiring manager and the candidate, his advice is targeted for candidates to prepare in ways that make sense.

Andy doesn't stop there. The chapters "After the Interview" and "Staying Hirable" are gems, too. In fact, you should buy this book as part of your New Year's actions to improve your overall skills.

This book provides a lot of good advice on how to find a job to apply for, how to evaluate it, how to approach your current job, and many other topics that are useful for anyone who has to work for a living. It's really good advice, and you should follow it.

The most important advice, from my perspective, is the advice for how to prepare to apply for a job, how to write a cover letter, and how to handle being interviewed. That's because I am involved in hiring staff members. Interviewing is a big time sink, and it is astonishing how many applicants unwittingly make a terrible impression that causes me to throw away resumes upon receipt or immediately after an interview.

This book details all the mistakes I've seen made, and provides really clear advice on how to avoid them. I think it is absolutely accurate to say that by reading this book and taking its advice to heart, you greatly increase the chance of landing the job you apply for.

Taking that together with the book's excellent advice on how to pick a job to apply for, this book is a good tool to help you, well, land the tech job you love.