The passionate programmer
by Chad Fowler · first published 2011
79% recommend18% neutral3% critical
Why HN recommends it
Career advice for software developers on becoming remarkable, focused on habits and mindset rather than specific tools. Suits students, new developers, and interns; rereading with job experience pays off.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Remarkable careers don't come by chance. You can't afford to sit back and let your job decide your future - it's time to take control.
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…excellent book all about software craftsmanship. The pragmatic programmers wrote a wonderful book in 2000 called “The pragmatic programmer”, again a wonderful book. Chad Fowler wrote a book call the “Passionate Programmer”. Again the book is about doing everything well. I wrote a book recently called “Clean Code” which is very specific about particular things you can do with your code to do it well. So there is a tremendous…
on “Ask HN: I think My code isn't Good enough” ↗…a whole, esp. when it came to telling other devs what to do. In 2009 as a 33 year old I felt pretty deflated and was considering a career change. One thing I caught wind of was this book called "The Passionate Programmer" by Chad Fowler (not related to Martin). It was ~200 pages, and it was separated out into 50 or so little chapters of tidbits of mostly, well, soft skills, but also general career advice. I absolutely…
on “Ask HN: How to Be a Good Technical Lead?” ↗…Instruction Testing, but I felt like I wasn't growing. No one that I worked with was a good coder and I felt like I was getting worse and not better. On the recommendation from a few friends I read The Passionate Programmer (http://www.amazon.com/Passionate-Programmer-Remarkable-Devel...) and it changed a lot of how I thought about my career. I highly recommend it. I started thinking a lot about what I really wanted to…
on “Ask HN: 2010 CS graduate here, where are the jobs?” ↗I just finished reading the Passionate Programmer by Chad Fowler. It is about creating a remarkable career in software development. Developers out there, highly recommended reading!
on “How to advance your career? First read Passionate Programmer” ↗Nice list, although we do end up seeing the usual 'canonical' titles. I'll add "Passionate Programmer" by Chad Fowler as it contains some industry wisdom.
on “Essential Language Agnostic Programming Books” ↗> Chad Fowler, author of The Passionate Programmer/former Living Social CTO .... Also Co-author of the "Pickaxe Book" - a fantastic Ruby monograph.
on “Software developers who started after 35, 40 or 50” ↗…friends and family for career advice. I typically seek developers who have something interesting to say about the topic and are passionate about sharing their insights. When I was in college I read The Passionate Programmer by Chad Fowler, which was my first exposure to the concept of treating yourself as business even when working for an employer. Later on a found Patrick Mckenzie's blog, via his blog post on salary negotiation. https://www.kalzumeus.com/2012/01/23/salary-negotiation/ Which…
on “Ask HN: Where do you go for career advice?” ↗I started reading the following a couple of nights back. Might give you some help if you haven't already seen it: The Passionate Programmer (2nd edition) Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development by Chad Fowler https://pragprog.com/titles/cfcar2/the-passionate-programmer... You can check it out before buying at either of the following:…
on “Ask HN: Moving from tiny websites to serious tech skills?” ↗…mentorship type relationships in both directions in the process. I was inspired by others to learn all sorts of things and eventually to give tasks and organize user groups myself. I highly recommend Passionate Programmer in which Chad Fowler compared this kind of experience to learning to be a musician by playing music with other musicians that seem out of your league.
on “What played a significant role in boosting your confidence as a new programmer?” ↗…programming languages developers use. 3. and 4. add some more background infos to it if you want to dive deeper. Career Development ================== - "Hackers and Painters" - Paul Graham - "The Passionate Programmer" - Chad Fowler In addition to the Pragmatic Programmer which has been mentioned in other comments, these books really helped me understand where I wanted to be as a programmer. Technology ==========…
on “Ask HN: What language-agnostic programming books should I read?” ↗Highly recommend "The Passionate Programmer" by Chad Fowler.
on “Ask HN: Resources for introverted devs to learn workplace politics?” ↗…Practice of Programming -- Don't Make Me Think -- Writing Solid Code -- Pragmatic Thinking And Learning -- Software Estimation -- Foundations of Programming -- Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs -- The Passionate Programmer -- Facts And Fallacies of Software Engineering -- Getting Real -- The Story About Ping Depressing.
on “What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?” ↗…questions than anytime since then. Why? Because of what I did that led me to making this transition, essentially becoming unhappy in my job and looking for anwers, which started with a book called "The Passionate Programmer", which led to maybe 20-30 other books, completing some classics (such as K&R C), some incomplete (SICP, only halfway thru chapter 2), but in general exploring my craft in a way that my job did not require…
on “This Is 2016 Not 2012” ↗I'd also suggest reading The Pragmatic Programmer (http://www.pragprog.com/the-pragmatic-programmer, written by @pragdave) and the The Passionate Programmer (http://pragprog.com/titles/cfcar2/the-passionate-programmer). People who are passionate about what they do have a tendency to stand out (pg makes a similar argument on Amateur section of http://www.paulgraham.com/opensource.html).…
on “Ask HN: Does reading HN ever make you feel like shit?” ↗…from failures with their own reputations intact where there is real risk. Full agreement on this point. Once I started looking at my own career from this perspective I couldn't stop. Books like The Passionate Programmer and The Pragmatic Programmer as well as heaps of prose from pg, patio11, edw519, and tptacek guide my continuing quest for increased leverage.
on “The Rise of Developeronomics” ↗