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10 inspiring thoughts from developers guide book by John Somnez

· 6 min read
D Balaji
D Balaji
Lead Design Technologist

book praise

John somnez is the software developer guru who writes books and creates content for other developers. He is prolific, brilliant, and healthy at the same time. Needless to say, he is someone who can work 18 hours a day for years. His book is like Gita for developers. Here are 10 inspiring ideas that caught my attention. The complete software developers career guide is a fantastic read.

About this read​

The complete software developers career guide is the second book by John somnez which I have finished reading. The first one being soft skills from manning publications. I like the way he writes self-help books. Generally, self-help books get boring but not this one. At a page count of 775, it's a heavy and gripping read.

I did all the reading on the kindle app installed on my 10-inch Lenovo tab. The book itself was borrowed on prime reading, so technically its free read, and I returned the book on kindle.

The 10 inspiring thoughts from the complete developer's career guide​

I would say these are just some of the inspiring thoughts, the book has quite a good number of tips for developers.

  1. Filling in gaps in knowledge to ace any interview.

    Most people from non-computer science engineering backgrounds find data structures and algorithms hard. When you understand it's a knowledge gap and work on the gaps, then it becomes easy for you to crack interviews. The keyword is Knowledge gaps

  2. Work proactively on employer business goals and get promoted.

    It's very tempting to sharpen our programming IQ, over-engineer a solution & architect to perfection but what matters for your career growth is whether your ideas at work make money for the business or not. If your business is making 1 million because of your work, they will be happy to give you a raise or even a whole department to you.

  3. Sometimes the best way to move forward in a career could be outside your company.

    Let's say despite all the best moves and hard work from your side if the company is citing lack of funds as a reason to skip your promotion, it's better to get promoted elsewhere. If your employer finds you valuable, they will go beyond the books to retain you.

  4. Be an inspiring leader at work by being 10x better than others.

    Many people are leading teams in a hard way. But an inspiring leader is the one who is 10x hard working and would want the team members to succeed. Good leaders don't just abdicate the task but they also take ownership of its outcome. Instead of just throwing in a task to your team, it would be nice if the leader has good written communication skills and share a wiki document with the team. Sharing the wiki is not a ticket to abdicate the task but a responsible leader will also train the team on the wiki.

  5. Branching out to be on your programmer entrepreneur slowly and safely.

Most developers dream to be on their own someday. John had taken the route from contractor, employee, and finally a tech entrepreneur. He is successful at it. He has become an authority and has published 18 courses of Pluralsight through which he made millions. He has actionable tips for those to be entreprogrammers

  1. Market yourself to gain visibility and gain an audience.

    ** Let's say you are an amazing programmer but nobody knows you. You will be paid less for your skills** But if you are an above-average programmer but with a lot of visibility, then you will be paid more for your skills. Visibility through marketing your brand matters.

  2. Be known in the community. Speak somewhere is the mantra.

    Either it's on youtube or in local meetups or on podcasts, just speak. That's one way to grow your network by adding more value to others. John says he gets more hits on youtube than on his blog. If speaking is a problem, join toastmasters.

  3. Be contradicting to be more charismatic.

    John's physique is of a wrestler but he is a software developer. Isn't that contradicting, most software devs I know are overweight slobs or look tired to maintain a good physique including myself? Being charismatic is important to get a good impression from others. However a tattoo in the visible region could lead to prejudices and a recruiter may not give you a job. Be careful.

  4. Dressing & image correction for devs.

    Software devs have no prescribed dress code like lawyers which means they have more choices about what they wear. But always dress like your boss's boss or super boss. Dressing two levels up is a good thing and will get noticed by people at work.

  5. Multi purposing your actions.

    Multi-tasking is most talked about and sometimes dangerous if you mix driving with talking on the phone. Multi purposing means one activity has multiple positive outcomes. For instance I can use this blog post to showcase my reading skills, use the same content for my book talk, and also to practice my written communication. John mixes audiobooks with his 10k runs.

Here are 12 bonus chapter names from the book.

  1. How to treat women in tech

  2. Choosing programming languages

  3. Generalist or specialist

  4. Fitness for programmers

  5. Importance of blogging

  6. Billing for freelancers

  7. When to be contractor vs employee

  8. Decoding job offers and choosing the best

  9. How to move from tester to developer

  10. Should I go for lunch with team members or stay in my gang forever.

  11. ToDo certifications or not

  12. Awesome book recommendations for readers were included. The e-myth busted is the one I want to read next.

Closing notes​

One of the best books I have read. Inspiring and feels authentic. I highly recommend and it is a must-read. The advice is not restricted to people in the USA, it applies to everyone.