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59 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Advice to be Passionate about your Craft - For The Win!, May 21, 2009
This review is from: The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development (Pragmatic Life) (Paperback)
This book is geared mainly for programmers. But if you are in any field where you work mainly creating things in your head and then placing them in some media (music, programming, design), the principles in this book apply to you. There is no code in this book so it's not strictly a technical book, but a fair amount of the examples only have full impact if you understand at least a little bit of software development.
Over my career as a developer and tech lead, I've found that the most enjoyable and productive people I've worked with follow the principles outlined in this book. Because I thoroughly enjoy what I do, I try to hire like-minded people at our company, and I continuously look for traits like these on people beyond the ability to code in the specific technologies we use.
From learning how to turn a "maintenance" project into an enjoyable one, to being the worst in a great team instead of the best in a mediocre team, to completely automating everything you do so you're cheaper than several outsourced developers and actually learning the business you're developing for so you can "read minds" and are able to improve your business bottom line with your understanding of the problem domain, this book teaches you to become better at what you do in your technical career and to thoroughly enjoy doing it.
Whether you are at the beginning of your career or you feel like "going into management" because you have lost your passion for the craft of development, this book will jolt you back into doing the best work for the software community and improving the world with automation, and "being awesome".
Get this book. You'll be glad you did.
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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Must Read For Any Hobbyist or Professional Coder, July 3, 2010
This review is from: The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development (Pragmatic Life) (Paperback)
I've written this review 3 times from scratch. Why? Because I was upset that my writing was not eloquent enough to accurately relay how important and useful this book truly is.
If you're considering buying this book, do it now. You can thank me later.
This book teaches you to (among other things):
1. Increase your programming skill and potential by changing your attitude and work habits.
2. Maximize your time and money by treating your programming time like a business.
3. Keep your passion for programming alive, and growing.
4. Advance your career either at your job, or on your own.
5. Manage and run your own company successfully and efficiently.
The author discusses almost every aspect of professional development, and explains what practices are good, what practices are bad, and how you can improve yourself and your skill set in each area.
As both a hobbyist programmer and professional programmer, I felt a strong connection to the author (Chad Fowler). The recurring theme present throughout the book is a sense of self-education and striving to learn everything, which I think many programmers are drawn to. I know that I have an internal drive to continuously improve, learn, and grow--and it is this same drive that Fowler will instill in you while reading through this book.
The book is extremely hard to put down, and I had to force myself to put it down several times (I read through the entire thing in 3 days or so) so that I could reflect on the content of the book and really absorb all of the information and theory behind what Fowler writes.
All in all, this book is a MUST READ for any programmer or entrepreneur who programs either for fun, or professionally. It is filled with excellent advice, and is truly a pleasure to read.
There is no doubt in my mind that I will be reading this book multiple times.
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22 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic book! A must have for anyone looking for inspirational and practical advice, May 21, 2009
This review is from: The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development (Pragmatic Life) (Paperback)
Having just finished the book I have to say that it's already one of my favorite programming books. The pragmatic programmers and Chad thrive on making quality content that is easy to read and contains actionable advice that can be applied immediately with measurable results.
The book is a mix of personal experience, proven methods and musings from a great software developer. The tone is really honest which is one of its strongest points. Having had the pleasure of meeting Chad before, the books feels like a conversation rather than a directive or dogma which is refreshing.
It also has a different emphasis from his first book My Job Went to India. That book seemed more focused on keeping a job, or "making it" while this one is focused on creating your remarkable job. While they are very similar, there is more than enough new content to pick this one up too. It's the kind of book that gets you fired up and inspired to become greater and you can't really put a price on that.
Overall this is a fantastic book and a must have for any developer that is just starting their remarkable career, or for a developer in limbo looking for a catalyst to re-start their new remarkable career!
Thanks Chad and the Pragmatic Programmers for another gem, can't wait to see what's next.
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