Soft Skills: The software developer's life manual 1st Edition

by John Sonmez (Author)

424 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-1617292392

ISBN-10: 1617292397

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Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual
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Summary

Soft Skills: The software developer's life manual is a unique guide, offering techniques and practices for a more satisfying life as a professional software developer. In it, developer and life coach John Sonmez addresses a wide range of important "soft" topics, from career and productivity to personal finance and investing, and even fitness and relationships, all from a developer-centric viewpoint.

Forewords by Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) and Scott Hanselman.

Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications.

About the Book

For most software developers, coding is the fun part. The hard bits are dealing with clients, peers, and managers, staying productive, achieving financial security, keeping yourself in shape, and finding true love. This book is here to help.

Soft Skills: The software developer's life manual is a guide to a well-rounded, satisfying life as a technology professional. In it, developer and life coach John Sonmez offers advice to developers on important "soft" subjects like career and productivity, personal finance and investing, and even fitness and relationships. Arranged as a collection of 71 short chapters, this fun-to-read book invites you to dip in wherever you like. A Taking Action section at the end of each chapter shows you how to get quick results. Soft Skills will help make you a better programmer, a more valuable employee, and a happier, healthier person.

What's Inside

Boost your career by building a personal brand
John's secret ten-step process for learning quickly
Fitness advice to turn your geekiness to your advantage
Unique strategies for investment and early retirement

About the Author

John Sonmez is a developer, teacher, and life coach who helps technical professionals boost their careers and live a more fulfilled life.

Table of Contents

Why this book is unlike any book you've ever read

SECTION 1: CAREER

Getting started with a "BANG!": Don't do what everyone else does
Thinking about the future: What are your goals?
People skills: You need them more than you think
Hacking the interview
Employment options: Enumerate your choices
What kind of software developer are you?
Not all companies are equal
Climbing the corporate ladder
Being a professional
Freedom: How to quit your job
Freelancing: Going out on your own
Creating your first product
Do you want to start a startup?
Working remotely survival strategies
Fake it till you make it
Resumes are BORING—Let's fix that
Don't get religious about technology

SECTION 2: MARKETING YOURSELF

Marketing basics for code monkeys
Building a brand that gets you noticed
Creating a wildly successful blog
Your primary goal: Add value to others
#UsingSocialNetworks
Speaking, presenting, and training: Speak geek
Writing books and articles that attract a following
Don't be afraid to look like an idiot

SECTION 3: LEARNING

Learning how to learn: How to teach yourself
My 10-step process
Steps 1-6: Do these once
Steps 7-10: Repeat these
Looking for mentors: Finding your Yoda
Taking on an apprentice: Being Yoda
Teaching: Learn you want? Teach you must.
Do you need a degree or can you "wing it?"
Finding gaps in your knowledge

SECTION 4: PRODUCTIVITY

It all starts with focus
My personal productivity plan
Pomodoro Technique
My quota system: How I get way more done than I should
Holding yourself accountable
Multitasking dos and don'ts
Burnout: I've got the cure!
How you're wasting your time
The importance of having a routine
Developing habits: Brushing your code
Breaking things down: How to eat an elephant
The value of hard work and why you keep avoiding it
Any action is better than no action

SECTION 5: FINANCIAL

What are you going to do with your paycheck?
How to negotiate your salary
Options: Where all the fun is
Bits and bytes of real estate investing
Do you really understand your retirement plan?
The danger of debt: SSDs are expensive
Bonus: How I retired at 33

SECTION 6: FITNESS

Why you need to hack your health
Setting your fitness criteria
Thermodynamics, calories, and you
Motivation: Getting your butt out of the chair
How to gain muscle: Nerds can have bulging biceps
How to get hash-table abs
Starting RunningProgram.exe
Standing desks and other hacks
Tech gear for fitness: Geeking out

SECTION 7: SPIRIT

How the mind influences the body
Having the right mental attitude: Rebooting
Building a positive self-image: Programming your brain
Love and relationships: Computers can't hold your hand
My personal success book list
Facing failure head-on
Parting words

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From the Publisher

This title has been discontinued by the publisher.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Sonmez is the founder of Simple Programmer, where he tirelessly pursues his vision of transforming complex issues into simple solutions. John has published over 50 courses on topics such as iOS, Android, .NET, Java, and game development for the online developer training resource, Pluralsight. He also hosts the Get Up and CODE podcast, where he talks about fitness for programmers. John is a life coach for software developers, and helps software engineers, programmers and other technical professionals boost their careers and live a more fulfilled life.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Manning Publications; 1st edition (January 6, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 504 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1617292397
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1617292392
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.8 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 1 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #625,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #400 in Business Marketing
- #575 in Software Design & Engineering
- #1,285 in Software Development (Books)

Customer Reviews:
424 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		70%
4 star		11%
3 star		5%
2 star		8%
1 star		6%

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Top reviews from the United States

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Bei Yan Wu

Some good advice, some bad

Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2018

Verified Purchase

This book's first half was pretty good where it actually dealt with developer issues and career progression. The point where it really put me off was when John started talking about things like real estate investments. Real estate may have worked out well for the author, but by no means should people be taking out high leverage loans without understanding all the risks involved. The part that made me put the book down was when John recounted a story where he bought two properties sight unseen. Without further context, this decision is astoundingly reckless and a terrible habit to teach newbie investors.

75 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Shallow tips and overpriced

Reviewed in the United States on September 5, 2018

Verified Purchase

My expectations were really high for this book, but I ended up somewhat disappointed. I've been reading several books about self improvements and this one falls at the bottom of my list.

The book provides really shallow tips on a huge variety of topics. The tips are overall really shallow and in many cases are not really helpful.

The author talks a lot about strategies for making money -- feels like this book was just another way the author used to just make money without giving back something meaningful to the community.

Additionally, the book is way overpriced: $30.

54 people found this helpful

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Brian A.

Caution

Reviewed in the United States on November 19, 2018

Verified Purchase

Yes do save and budget and live within your means, but be careful of real estate. You really have to understand what your getting into and do absolutely invest in your 401 k versus what the author states. His opinions on a wide range of topics but think for yourself, question everything. Way over priced book, find a used one or see if there is one in your local library.

43 people found this helpful

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Edward

I visited the authors website to get a better picture of him and was bombarded with a pop ...

Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2018

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I almost didn’t buy this book. I visited the authors website to get a better picture of him and was bombarded with a pop up and pictures of his biceps. As an engineer, I thought: “this guy can’t really be one of us” (but who knows? He seems to get readers). I read this books table of contents, and while all the topics are important to understand, they didn’t seem to justify the price of the book to me.

So why did I buy it? I realized I had read a lot of professional software development books: on languages, coding style, design patterns, high level concepts, mindset, etc. But I had a blind spot: no books on software development social/soft skills. I searched for software development books on social skills and this one stuck out. There also doesn’t seem to be much competition (if you know of any other good ones, please let me know).

So against all my instincts telling me “this guy is not really an engineer. He’s a marketing bro. How could he know what he’s talking about? How could this book apply to my life?” I decided to purchase the book. My next thought was shock: “WHAT? The delivery time is TWO WEEKS? It’s not prime!?”

When the book finally arrived and I started reading it, it didn’t take me long to start making highlights, bookmarking sections, and writing notes. The book is good. He gives a lot of good advice in a wide variety of topics. The ones I found most useful were about career planning, networking, marketing, productivity, and mindset. He surprised me by offering advice I hadn’t heard before and can instantly put into practice. I would share them here, but he deserves the book sales.

When you have a book with such a wide variety of topics, it’s inevitable that many readers will already have a good understanding of a few of those topics. For me it was personal finance, fitness, and diet. I didn’t think his chapter on dating added value either.

His writing was simple and easy to understand, but not exactly spellbinding. He opens a lot of chapters with a single paragraph explaining why the subject is important and follows it by saying “now that I’ve convinced you this subject is important…” Most of the time, he didn’t. It felt cheesy. But his points are clear and he offers a lot of important questions to ask yourself.

This book covers a lot of subjects at a high level with examples you can put to use right away. I think most readers will be able to take away a few things that they can apply to their own lives that over time will make a significant difference. What more can you ask for from a book?

38 people found this helpful

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Alexander Clark

Book of self-published quality, written by a human lacking both expertise and integrity

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2019

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This book contains advice of limited usefulness across a wide variety of largely unrelated subjects. Because it covers so many topics, it lacks a sense of cohesiveness, and fails to treat any of them with any depth. It feels like a collection of unedited blog posts collated together in a slapdash manner.

Few if any of the chapters cover topics traditionally considered to be "soft skills," i.e. interpersonal communication, empathy, teamwork, conflict resolution, etc.

Much of the book talks about self-promotion. While there's nothing wrong with self-promotion - it's necessary, in fact, to move forward in one's career - he seems to treat it as an end in its own right. It comes off as self-important and slimy.

Finally, and signally, the author's recent behavior on social media has proven him unfit to instruct anyone on soft skills.

A blight on the Manning imprint.

19 people found this helpful

Helpful

Chad Adams

Not a get rich quick scheme book, but provides great incite for coders, outside coding.

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is a great book for software developers either mid-level or senior level. They help set goals beyond, "making a living" as a software developer, or getting a job. The book emphasizes a balance on being a successful software developer, but it's not for everyone. The book doesn't take into account kids or family. One of the authors claims is pocketing 70k from a 100k salary, by being frugal. Not a bad thing, but only really works if your single, and your already making a 100k. So don't use this book as a get rich thru coding practice.

I do like the life-skills topics: investing in stock, real-estate, etc. Things that can be done with a family or "on the side" given a person's capital. The fitness section is really insightful, I doubt I'd be at John's level, but it does cover a lot that your physical education classes SHOULD have covered in high school and approaching it at a geek level.

Lastly, the section on networking and marketing yourself is solid, but if you've got a good handle on Twitter, and LinkedIn this may seem a little redundant. Overall, a solid book for developers.

8 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Andrea Angella (Microsoft C# MVP)

Practical tips to improve your software development career, market yourself, learn effectively and be more confident.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2016

Verified Purchase

I am developer who loves self-development and I am always looking for ways to improve my career. There is a lot of wisdom inside this book touching various aspects of the life of a software developer. John story is fascinating, inspiring and helps to self-reflect about the direction you want to follow in your career and life. One of the main tip in the book is the principle that providing value to others is the best way to market yourself and accelerate your success. Finding a specialization and having a blog that you consistently update is key. It is also very important to make sure the results of your work are visible. The other interesting part of the book is how to motivate yourself to do more and grow: stop caring what people think, overcome fear, act with confidence and especially do things that make you uncomfortable. The 10-step system for learning creating by John is exactly what I was looking forward to develop skills more quickly and with fun. Basically the idea is the learn the minimum to get started and then experiment on your own driven by curiosity. Then you can fill the gaps to your unanswered questions using traditional learning materials like books. Finally sharing and teaching is the ultimate way to cement your learning. Surprisingly the book also helped me to understand better about finance and how the market works. I also discovered some tools like Kanbanflow to manage my activities and Buffer to schedule social media posts. Overall I am very happy about this book and I recommend it. I am sure you can find some valuable tips to enhance your future career.

4 people found this helpful

Paul R Andrews

I’ve just finished reading this truly excellent book. It’s a feast of distilled wisdom on ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2016

Verified Purchase

I’ve just finished reading this truly excellent book.

It’s a feast of distilled wisdom on the life skills needed to succeed and thrive as a software developer. Rather than focusing on technical skills, which are covered in so many other books and videos, John instead generously shares his hard earned insight and experience on topics as diverse as financial management, maintaining physical and emotional health, working for your self, and cultivating a positive and effective mental attitude.

In each bite-sized chapter there are practical and immediately actionable exercises to improve any developer’s life across the board.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough.

One person found this helpful

That Dude

Solid insight into living life as a software developer

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 23, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book feels like it was written for me specifically. I was a full stack software developer with a career that was going nowhere slowly, I believe this book is helping put me on the right track.

This book doesn't really cover soft skills all that much but it definitely offers a couple of good tips, but it ultimately delivers on being a software developer life manual.

In the quest to overcome impostor syndrome or to just simply be the best software developer you can be I would highly recommend this book be on your reading list.

Kumi W.

I have found this book particularly good for getting me off my butt and actually doing ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 7, 2015

Verified Purchase

I have found this book particularly good for getting me off my butt and actually doing many of the things that I wanted to do but never got round to (such as writing that blog).

If you are widely read on the subject of IT, then little of the stuff is likely to be new to you. However, the author presents it in a way that makes it more likely that you will move from the thinking stage to the doing stage.

3 people found this helpful

I didn't like the book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 25, 2021

Verified Purchase

But if you're interested, it covers subjects beyond soft skills only. Which I'm not interested.

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