Chad Fowler

The author has obviously had a gamut of experience in IT and knows what it takes to succeed as a programmer.
Though more a reflection on the industry than the book itself, I am concerned by how much more the employee must do over and above their job. You literally have to sell your soul to the industry just to stay in the game (as in my own experience). IT is actually very conservative requiring a great deal of discipline.

In this industry in particular, where mindfulness comes at the cost of show more awareness, this sort of book is an important one. Easy reading. Maybe a bit long-winded. Unique. show less

Pros: it's good to see a book that encourages people to take a more disciplined look at their careers. The book covers many important ideas for being a successful programmer: work with people better than you; don't listen to your parents; be a generalist; find a mentor; learn how to fail; learn to say no; build your brand.

Cons: the voice used in the book feels wrong--at times, it sounds like an infomercial or self help book. There are a number of weird programmer stereotypes and a strange show more focus on Indian IT (perhaps from v1 of the book?). Finally, the level of discussion is often too simplistic, glossing over the all the nuances and gray areas. This book goes broad, but not deep. show less

I am a Ruby wannabee. This book is useful to me because I just haven't coded enough Ruby to solve some things without alot of browser clicking. The code is excellent, well explained and works right off the page. I am not a fan of "recipe" books in general, but this one has been useful. Perhaps it is because the stringent Rails structure reduces the amount of customizing needed to make these code blocks work.

This is another one of those books I wish I'd read 25 years ago, when I was first getting into the programming business. This is an excellent guide to how to manage your career and stay relevant in the changing business IT environment. I'd highly recommend it to anyone in the field, or thinking of entering the field.