Taming the Technology Tidal Wave: Practical Career Advice for IT Professionals [Paperback]

Jacquie Barker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004

A light-hearted career guide for IT professionals, aimed at helping folks to maintain leading-edge technology skills without becoming overwhelmed.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

This is a guide to managing your career with respect to technology change so that you can smoothly update your technical skills as often as necessary throughout your career, without a great deal of anxiety. With this book, you will learn:

Creative, inexpensive ways to come up to speed on the latest technology trends.

Ways to recognize the technologies that are truly worth spending your time on to master, versus those that are just "passing fads".

How to leverage the skills you already have to land an assignment that will give you on-the-job exposure to the new technical skills that you need.

Most importantly, the tips in this book will help you to develop skills for continually renewing yourself technically that will last a professional lifetime.

About the Author

Ms. Barker is a professional software engineer, author, and adjunct faculty member at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. With over 25 years of experience as a hands-on software developer and project manager, she has spent the past 12 years focusing on object technology, becoming proficient as an object modeler and Sun Microsystems certified Java programmer.

Ms. Barker is currently employed as a senior member of the technical staff at Technology Associates, Inc. in Herndon, Virginia, where she consults for both public and private sector clients, and is also the founder of ObjectStart LLC, an object technology mentorship and training firm.

Ms. Barker earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Engineering with highest honors from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, where she was also inducted into the Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society. She later received a Master of Science Degree in Computer Science, focusing on software systems engineering, from UCLA, and has subsequently pursued doctoral level studies in information technology at George Mason University.

Her best selling book, Beginning Java Objects: From Concepts to Code, published originally by the former Wrox Press, Ltd. and now by Apress LP, continues to receive praise from readers around the world. Jacquie’s "winning formula" for teaching object fundamentals continues to receive praise from readers around the world, and Beginning Java Objects has been adopted by many universities as a key textbook in their core IT curricula. Her second book, Beginning C# Objects, an adaptation of B.J.O. to the C# programming language, was published by Apress in April 2004. Her latest book project is entitled Taming the Technology Tidal Wave: Practical Career Advice for Technical Professionals, published by ObjectStart Press.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: ObjectStart Press (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0974479888
• ISBN-13: 978-0974479880
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,377,945 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Culture > Careers

More About the Author

Jacquie Barker is a professional software engineer, author, and adjunct faculty member with both The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. and George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. With over 30 years of experience as a hands-on software developer and project manager, she has spent the past 15 years focusing on object technology, becoming proficient as an object modeler and Sun Microsystems certified Java programmer. Jacquie is also the founder of ObjectStart LLC, an object technology mentorship and training firm.

Jacquie's winning formula for teaching object fundamentals side-by-side with language syntax -- as reflected in her best selling books, "Beginning Java Objects: From Concepts to Code" and "Beginning C# Objects" (co-authored with Grant Palmer) -- continues to receive praise from readers around the world. Her latest book, "Taming the Technology Tidal Wave", is a light-hearted yet practical career guide for IT professionals.

In addition to teaching for GMU and GWU, Jacquie offers training in object/Java fundamentals to public and private sector organizations. Please visit her websites, objectstart.com and techtidalwave.com, for more information on her various publications and service offerings.

On a personal note, Jacquie devotes considerable time to animal rescue -- she volunteers for the Homeless Animals Rescue Team (HART) in Northern Virginia (www.hart90.org) as a member of the HART Cat Team, and is in the process of establishing her own non-profit to assist rescue groups with IT-related services (please visit petsbringjoy.org). She and her husband Steve share their home with four feline family members: Kwiddie, Tiffie, Walter, and Wynxie. :o)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Invaluable advice for technical professionals!, February 14, 2005

By 

Cathleen McCabe (Vienna, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taming the Technology Tidal Wave: Practical Career Advice for IT Professionals (Paperback)

Although this book is beneficial for any technical professional, it is particularly valuable for those reentering the workforce after taking time off. The challenge of returning to work as a software engineer after a hiatus to raise kids is overwhelming! The sheer number of new web-based technologies introduced in the last decade is mind-boggling.

However, "Taming the Technology Tidal Wave" helped me recognize that despite significant technological changes, my formal education and previous job experience are still relevant. It provided concrete (and relatively inexpensive) methods for me to get back up to speed after falling behind. The ideas on resume crafting were particularly helpful, as were the numerous suggestions on how to begin learning the newer technologies (and how to select which ones of the many to actually focus on!). Most important, it helped boost my confidence.

You probably feel the same way that I do if you're currently working in IT but have been stuck using out-dated technologies or are shifting from management back into a more technical position. This book's recommendations are relevant to these situations as well.

Word to the wise: if you're just starting out in a technical career, this book will steer you in the right direction so you avoid making the wrong choices that could lead to technical obsolescence!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best advice for IT Professionals I've read in a long time!, October 26, 2005

By 

Carrie E. Puterbaugh (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Taming the Technology Tidal Wave: Practical Career Advice for IT Professionals (Paperback)

Ms. Barker hits the mark with each of her 30 tips. I found myself saying, "yes, that sounds like what happened to me" or "that's exactly how I feel". Taming the Technology Tidal Wave reminds us why we chose a technical career path - because we were passionate about it, it was stimulating and it was downright fun! After 12 years in technology, I found myself asking - why am I not having fun at this anymore?

The tips Ms. Barker provided for reenergizing, regrouping & refocusing an IT career were invaluable to me. Her insights about not chasing after the newest technology that comes along and focusing on mastering paradigms are good lessons for both recent college graduates and veterans in the IT field. In the world of bits & bytes, Ms. Barker has interjected a warm, human approach to this issue with tips such as being generous with your knowledge and volunteer your time.

As a guest speaker in a graduate-level IT course I'm teaching, Ms. Barker led a lively discussion around the pros and cons of choosing a technical track versus a managerial track. One student found the discussion of such value, he purchased Taming the Technology Tidal Wave. Based on student feedback , I will incorporate Taming the Technology Tidal Wave as required course reading. I highly recommend to other IT instructors to include this book in your course!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Unfulfilling. Very little substance., December 5, 2009

By 

Katrina Owen (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Taming the Technology Tidal Wave: Practical Career Advice for IT Professionals (Paperback)

Due to the overwhelmingly positive write up and 5 star reviews on this book I purchased it without blinking, and I regret the purchase.

Nearly every paragraph had at least one bold and italicized word or phrase, which was grating in and of itself, but the most frustrating thing about Taming the Technology Tidal Wave was that most of the advice given was trite.

The one piece of advice that I appreciated reading was to focus on learning the paradigms rather than frantically trying to learn each new tool that comes along.

If you are a programmer and want practical career advice, I would suggest "The Pragmatic Programmer", "How to Land the Tech Job you Love", and "The Passionate Programmer".