My Job Went to India

What Hacker News says

1. BarbaryCoastNov 2022
   I would start with "The Pragmatic Programmer". It's how I became a "professional" programmer. "Code Complete" is a book on construction. I dip into it when my IF statement has too many conditionals in the test. That sort of thing.

   I'd also recommend "The Career Programmer": The only book I've seen that deals with a realistic view of programming in a corporate environment. For example, what to do when your boss stops you in the hall and asks, "We need a tool to do X. How soon can you get that done?" It's subtitled "Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World", which is _just_ what you need to break free of the fantasy land that books and classes put you in. (APress publishes this.)

   And don't be fooled by the title: "My Job Went to India And All I Got Was This Lousy Shirt". It's the distilled experience of a programmer who spent a year (or two?) in India when his company outsourced code, and sent him to manage the new group. There are some really important tactics inside, like the chapter on "reading the boss's mind". You don't really, of course, but it explains how to capitalize on "wouldn't it be nice if we..." throw-away comments in meetings. (Pragmatic Programmers publish(ed) this one.)

   Oh, and don't be shy about using the Internet Archive to sample all the books recommended in this thread. I haven't seen any bad recommendations, but you don't want to spend more money or read more pages than necessary. The IA will help you decide which books answer your needs the best.

   Good luck!

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2. henrik_wJan 2014
   Yep, that's a great book, with lots of good advice. I got the first edition, which was call "My Job Went to India, and All I Got Was This Lousy Book"
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3. drtse4Aug 2010
   Just a little side note, if you haven't already, you should really read "The Passionate Programmer" (the previous edition was titled "My job went to India: 52 ways to save your job").
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4. lutormJul 2009
   I read a book called "My Job Went to India" (it's a tongue-in-cheek tutorial of how to stay competitive in the computer industry) and one of the advice was:

   Always be the worst on your team.

   The idea is, of course, not to suck but to put yourself on a team with people that are more awesome than you, because that's how you grow. People usually do a double-take when I quote this, though. :-)

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5. HarkinsSep 2008
   Leave.

   The bullet points all sound like typical developer gripes, except being forbidden to talk to team members means one of two things: 1. Management is all messed up and is attacking 'troublemakers' instead of the problems. 2. Your coworkers have complained to management that you are a ball of negativity that they don't want to hear.

   Read the book "My Job Went To India". It's a great book for career planning and it'll help you figure out whether you're in 1 or 2, I can't guess which. If it's 1, you can't fix it, you need to find a company with a healthy culture. If it's 2, you need to start fresh with a good attitude at a new company.

   Best of luck with your career.

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6. throwawaymagicJan 2025
   Where have I heard that before? Right, it was in the book "My Job Went To India", which was published more than 20 years ago.
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