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

Chad Fowler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2009 | Series: Pragmatic Life

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.

Editorial Reviews

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.

Chad is VP of Engineering at LivingSocial. He is co-organizer of RubyConf and RailsConf and author or co-author of a number of popular software books, including The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf; 1 edition (June 4, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934356344
• ISBN-13: 978-1934356340
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (70 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #43,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Management > Privacy
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More 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.

Chad is VP of Engineering at LivingSocial. He is co-organizer of RubyConf and RailsConf and author or co-author of a number of popular software books, including The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 65 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

Format: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.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read For Any Hobbyist or Professional Coder July 3, 2010

By Randall Degges VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

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.

68 of 83 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Dissenting Opinion August 22, 2009

By J. Hamacher

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had to buy this book after reading all of the glowing reviews. It is definitely not a five-star book.

After reading it my impression is that this book is aimed at people who went into programming for reasons other than love, people who are struggling to stay interested and afloat in the industry. Anyone who is truly passionate about programming will have already discovered and acted on the best advice from the book while ignoring the rest.

There is some solid advice here. But it's generally very obvious and generic like "try to see where the industry is going and stay ahead of the curve" or "people will take you more seriously if you can write well".

There is also some bad, or at least impractical, advice. If you tried to follow all of the author's suggestions for "staying ahead of the curve" and "making yourself more marketable" it could easily eat up many hours per week that would probably better be spent on actual programming. Much of his advice also involves, for lack of a better term, sucking up to management.

This book may be useful for someone graduating from college with a computer science degree, but I can't see it being very valuable to anyone with a few years experience.