At some point in your career, you'll realize there's more to being a software engineer than dealing with code. Is it time to become a manager? Or join a startup? In this insightful and entertaining book, Michael Lopp recalls his own make-or-break moments with Silicon Valley giants such as Apple, Slack, Pinterest, Palantir, Netscape, and Symantec to help you make better, more mindful career decisions.
With more than 40 stand-alone stories, Lopp walks through a complete job lifecycle, starting with the interview and ending with the realization that it might be time to move on. You'll learn how to handle baffling circumstances in your job, understand what you want from your career, and discover how to thrive in your workplace.
• Learn how to navigate areas of your job that don't involve writing code
• Identify how the aspects you enjoy will affect your next career steps
• Build and maintain key relationships and interactions within your community
• Make choices that will help you have a deliberate career
• Recognize what's important to your manager and work on things that matter
Author(s): Michael Lopp
Edition: 1
Publisher: O'Reilly Media
Year: 2023
Language: English
Commentary: Publisher's PDF
Pages: 318
City: Sebastopol, CA
Tags: Software Engineering; Best Practices; Career
Cover
Copyright
Table of Contents
Preface
O’Reilly Online Learning
How to Contact Us
Acknowledgments
Part I. Building a Career Playbook
Chapter 1. How to Win
A System Thinker
People Are Messy
A System of Improvisation
A Career Blueprint
A Collection of Moments
Chapter 2. A List of Three
Technical Direction
Growth
Delivery
Simplifying the Infinite
Chapter 3. The Itch
Are You Answering the Email?
The Pissed Itch
Early Warning Signs of Doom
The Contradiction List
Bright and Shiny
Chapter 4. The Sanity Check
Stalk Your Future Job
Initial Tuning
Can We Communicate?
One More Softball
No More Softballs
Your Turn
The Close
Long, Awkward Pauses
Adversarial Interactions
How’d It Feel?
Specific Next Steps
Chapter 5. The Nerves
Question Types
The Answer Process
The Confidence of Knowing a Thing
Chapter 6. The Button
Creatures and Structure
Interview Creatures
A Fresh Perspective
Chapter 7. The Business
You Are the Business
Actual Earnings
What Am I Earning?
The Swag
Base Salary
Title
Sign-On Bonus
Stock
Negotiating Roles
Offer Compromise
Walk Away
Better, Faster, and More
Part II. Deconstructing Management
Chapter 8. Your Best Work
The Happy New Year
The Entirety of Your Attention
Thanks, Zack
Chapter 9. The Culture Chart
Days
Bridge
Detecting Culture
Culture Definers
Game Over
Chapter 10. Managing Managers
A Management Assessment
Is There a 1:1?
Is a Staff Meeting a Casual or Structured Affair?
Are There Status Reports?
What Meetings Does She Schedule?
How Often Is His Hand in the Cookie Jar?
The Essential Elements
The Loop
Chapter 11. Managing Up
On Experience
Up
Partial Information
Beware the Doof
Everything
Chapter 12. The Leaper
On Excuses
On Delivery
Say Something Real
Chapter 13. The Enemy
Management Transformations
The Interrogator
The Prioritizer
The Randomizer
The Illuminator
The Enemy
The M Word
Chapter 14. The Impossible
A Hint of an Insane Plan
Skin in the Game
The Importance of Respect
What He Really Wants
Chapter 15. Knee Jerks
One-Eighth of a Second
The Jerks
Dr. No
Raging Bull
Still Water
Distiller
The Handler
My Bad
We’re Doomed
I Quit
Stages of Jerk
Chapter 16. Invest in the Boring
Sigh
Three Meetings
Make Room for Something Else
Chapter 17. Gaming the System
An Entertaining System
Discovery: From Confusion to Control
Optimization, Repetition, and Win: A Paradox and a Warning
Achievement: Who Cares if You Win by Yourself?
The Rules of the Game
The Whiteboard Game
Chapter 18. Managing Werewolves
A Dangerous Scenario
People Lie, Some Are Evil, Others Just Want to Screw You Over
This Isn’t Role-Playing; This Is Life or Death
We Can’t Let the Werewolves Win
Chapter 19. BAB
On the Topic of Trust
BAB
The Second Staff Meeting
Chapter 20. Your People
Share What You Build
You Tell Stories
Chapter 21. Wanted
The Requisition Situation
Spend an Hour a Day on Each Req You Have
I Found Them! I’m Done!
Deliberate Want
Hire for Your Career
Chapter 22. The Toxic Paradox
Big Fat Toxic Assumptions
Go Team!
A Toxic Paradox
Everyone Is an Adjustment
Chapter 23. By Design
Interlude
Your Job as a Leader
Chapter 24. The Core of Kindness
The Coach
The Fixer
The Leader
Part III. Your Daily Toolkit
Chapter 25. The Nerd Handbook
Understanding Your Nerd
Understand Your Nerd’s Relation to the Computer
Your Nerd Has Control Issues
Your Nerd Has Built Herself a Cave
Your Nerd Loves Toys and Puzzles
Nerds Are Fucking Funny
Your Nerd Has an Amazing Appetite for Information
Your Nerd Has Built an Annoyingly Efficient Relevancy Engine in His Head
Your Nerd Might Come Off as Not Liking People
Advanced Nerd Tweakage
Map the Things He’s Bad at to the Things He Loves
Make It a Project
People Are the Most Interesting Content Out There
The Next High
Chapter 26. The Taste of the Day
The New Gig
The Taste of the Day
The Morning Scrub
Practice Productivity Minimalism
The Evening
Chapter 27. The Trickle List
Trickle Creation
The Trickle Process
Structured Improvisation
Chapter 28. What We Lost
This Is Not a Meeting
Five or Seven Senses
Endless Bits of Friction
And That Was Not Princess Leia
Chapter 29. The Foamy Rules for Rabid Tools
The Foamy Rules
My Tools Appear Deceptively Simple
My Tools Do Not Care Where My Work Is
My Tools Are Designed to Remove Repetitive Motion
My Tools Do Only What I’ve Told Them to Do
My Tools Are My Tools
An Evolving Foaminess
Chapter 30. Up to Nothing
An Essential Exercise in Inactivity
Up to Nothing
Don’t Look for It
Chapter 31. How to Not Throw Up
Not Throwing Up Is a Two-Phase Process
Phase 1: Practice Endlessly
Phase 2: Throw-Up Avoidance
Fret
Chapter 32. Out Loud
Presentation or Speech?
The Unforgivable Mistake
The Disaster
Reduction
Presentation Punctuation
Something for Their Pocket
Chapter 33. Bits, Features, and Truth
That Damned Triangle
Bits, Features, and Truth
Circle of Comfort
Circle Analysis
Let the Negotiation Begin; It’s About the Debate
Chapter 34. The Reveal
Three Phases
Three Alphas
Alpha Nothing: “I’m saying absolutely nothing.”
Alpha Game: “I’m game, but you drive.”
Alpha Drive: “I’ll drive.”
The Holy Shit Event Horizon
Chapter 35. The Sabotage List
The Untitled List
The Reasons
Chapter 36. Check Your Work, Ask for Help, and Slow Down
Check Your Work
Ask for Help
Slow Down
What If I’m Wrong?
Chapter 37. OK. So, You Can’t Decide
You Just Need to Decide
Part IV. Your Next Gig
Chapter 38. The Screw-Me Scenario
You Might Be Lying
A Rubber Stamp Affair
No Guilt, No Doubts, No Fear
Game On
The Unforgivable Spin
A Screw-Me Detection Policy
Chapter 39. No Surprises
Show Me the Money
Measures Versus Content
A Review Is a Conversation
Surprise!
The Permanence of the Written
Chapter 40. A Deliberate Career
Three Choices
Question #1: Startup or Established?
Question #2: Industry and Brand
Question #3: Management or Development?
A Complete Opportunity Move
Chapter 41. The Curse of Silicon Valley
Apprenticeship
On Language
Everyone Hates Engineering
The Curse
Engineering Gone Mainstream
Chapter 42. A Disclosure
Management Is a Total Career Restart
You Go to a Lot of Meetings
You Are a Communication Hub
Abstraction and Filtering
You Will Be a Multilingual Translator
Drama Everywhere
Context Switcher
Say No
Say Yes
Trust So You Can Scale
Chapter 43. Mind the Gap
The Gaps
Knowledge and Ability: “Alpha Knowledge”
Power and Influence: “Maestro”
Network and Communication: “The Insider”
A Matter of Perspective
Chapter 44. The Cello in Soho Square
Still Playing Destiny
Are You Willing to Do the Work?
To Inspire
Chapter 45. The Exodus
This Sucks
Two Threads
The First Wave
The Second Wave
The Third Wave
Which Wave?
Chapter 46. Bad News About Your Bright Future
What’s Next
Biased by the Now
An Uncomfortable Ending
Epilogue: Hurry
You’re in a Hurry
Appendix A. The Rules of Back Alley Bridge
Preparing for Back Alley Bridge
Rules of Play
Index
About the Author
