The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development (Pragmatic Life) (Paperback)

~ (Author), David Heinemeier Hansson (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product 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.

About the Author

Chad Fowler is an internationally known software developer, trainer, manager, speaker, and musician. Over the past decade he has worked with some of the world's largest companies and most admired software developers. He loves to program computers and, as part of his role as CTO of InfoEther, Inc., spends much of his time solving hard problems for customers in the Ruby language. He is co-organizer of RubyConf, RailsConf, and RailsConf Europe and author or co-author of a number of popular software books.

Product Details

• Paperback: 198 pages
• Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf (May 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934356344
• ISBN-13: 978-1934356340
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #38,771 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 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

By	David Martinez "Software Guy, Dad, Geek" (Bay Area, California, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

9 of 9 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

By	Kent Fenwick (Mississauga, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great insights and tips, May 21, 2009

By	Andrew Timberlake (South Africa) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've just finished reading the Passionate Programmer and found two things particularly interesting:
One, I have been doing most of the suggestions all along without realising or paying particular attention to how/why :-)
Two, The analogies of the musician programmer (which I am) rang very true and highlighted things I had not thought of in this way before.

I highly recommend reading this book if you want practical tips on building and improving your career.
Most chapters have a to-do list of tips that you can incorporate into your life immediately.

I will be going over the book again soon paying particular attention to the "Act on it" tips and incorporating them into my daily work