Name: Being Geek
ISBN: 9780596155407

Being Geek

As a software engineer, you recognize at some point that there's much more to your career than dealing with code. Is it time to become a manager? Tell your boss he’s a jerk? Join that startup? Author Michael Lopp recalls his own make-or-break moments with Silicon Valley giants such as Apple, Netscape, and Symantec in Being Geek -- an insightful and entertaining book that will help you make better career decisions. With more than 40 standalone stories, Lopp walks through a complete job life cycle, starting with the job interview and ending with the realization that it might be time to find another gig. Many books teach you how to interview for a job or how to manage a project successfully, but only this book helps you handle the baffling circumstances you may encounter throughout your career. Decide what you're worth with the chapter on "The Business" Determine the nature of the miracle your CEO wants with "The Impossible" Give effective presentations with "How Not to Throw Up" Handle liars and people with devious agendas with "Managing Werewolves" Realize when you should be looking for a new gig with "The Itch"

What Hacker News says

radicalbyteJan 2023

I've also had them read "Being Geek" and "Managing Humans" (as those books are what made it finally click for me).

Turns out the blog linked in the first post was written by the same person.

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ekkeMay 2018

In that section, would like to add recommendations for:

- "Being Geek: The Software Developer's Career Handbook" https://www.amazon.com/Being-Geek-Software-Developers-Handbo...

- "Team Geek: A Software Developer's Guide to Working Well with Others" http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920018025.do -- Software engineering teamwork a-b-c. I'd love to work on teams where everyone has read this one.

[edit: 2nd edition of "Team Geek" is titled "Debugging Teams"; having read both, no difference which you get]

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tedmistonSep 2017

I know it's commonly recommended here, but the other Rands' book, Being Geek: The Software Developer's Career Handbook, is top notch as well for devs and those living somewhere in-between experienced dev and team manager.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0596155409/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_ep_dp_mr...

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vvandersAug 2017

For anyone who hasn't read Rands, he's got a bunch of these and they're largely pretty fantastic.

Managing Humans / Being Geek are also great books if you like this type of writing. I've shared them with lots of new managers/engineers and they've always been well received.

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ajonesApr 2015

Being Geek by Michael Lopp

Rands does a great job at giving a broad range of career advice for software engineers. I also recommend his blog: http://randsinrepose.com/

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justinlillyDec 2011

I'd recommend reading "Being Geek" by rands. Its great.

http://beinggeek.com/

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