You would think that after years of development, the act of shipping something would be nothing but joy and relief. In the moment, however, "pushing send" is terrifying and feels like running naked into traffic. That's what I'm feeling right now because today is the day! After two years of planning, research, writing, and editing - it’s ready to go: The Imposter’s Roadmap, essential practices, tools, and skills for self-taught programmers. If you click that link, I've thrown in a 20% discount as a thank you for reading my emails. The book is all about polishing your professional game, and includes:
I tried to think of everything that I would want to know if I was moving up in my career, hoping to land in a lead position within the next year or so. You can learn the technical things, that’s for sure, but there’s a lot more to this game than understanding how to use Git. To that end, I discuss soft skills throughout the book, and what it means to gain responsibility and influence without losing your soul. We also discuss how to spot a sociopath (there are so many of them) and what you can do to avoid people problems. Want to see something else? I'm happy to add it! Just let me know (hit reply) or fill out an issue on GitHub (link in book). Why I wrote thisBack in 2004 I bought Mike Gunderloy’s classic, Coder to Developer. I remember reading it in 7 hours as I flew to Hawaii, and it is, to this day, the fastest flight I’ve ever been on. I devoured this book - I wanted to know what “the real pros” did so I could have a reasonable conversation with them and not look and feel like an imposter. Fast-forward to 2024, and things have changed, drastically. As a lead, you need to understand so many different systems and how they all work together. It’s easy to feel left behind, which was me 8 years ago as docker started taking over and this thing called Kubernetes was what the “pro” developers were using. I wrote this book for me. Instead of cobbling together some notes, I decided to go deeper and document everything with the goal of sharing with others. It's a living thingThe book is up for presale but I would say it's about 95% "ready". I might add or expand some chapters based on feedback, but no matter what, you'll have access to every version from now until forever. If you're an annual subscriber, you can download the book straight away. It's right in your dashboard under "Subscription Downloads" (along with the other books I've made). If you would rather wait until the book is final, that should be in about a month and I'll send out another note at that time. Hope you enjoy the book! Rob |
I taught myself to code in 1998 and within 7 years had a client list that included Google, Microsoft, Starbucks, Ameritech, KLA-Tencor, PayPal, and Visa. In 2014 I decided that I really needed to understand core Computer Science concepts, so I dove in, using the free resources from MIT and Stanford. In 2016 I shared what I learned with The Imposter's Handbook.
I was talking with a coworker the other day about one of the new AI offerings and how well it simulated human interaction. I was asking it to summarize some notes I had taken on a book, and it did a fantastic job - but I then mentioned something I truly believe: AI is mediocre, at best It has to be, by definition. It's just repeating back to us the most common and probable things that we have said to it. Or, as Scott Hanselman describes it: "AI is a sock puppet on your own hand":...
I was at a local clothing store with my youngest, looking at clothes over the summer. She was trying to find a good pair of jeans, so we ended up at the Levis store, which isn't cheap. She found a very nice pair that were $95, which seemed a bit high but she's in college now and I suppose that's when you start thinking about buying nicer things. She's extremely thrifty, unlike me, so she suggested: Dad we should drive up to Nordstrom and look there. They have a great selection and it's...
We invest a lot of our time learning programming languages and frameworks, but I think it's just as important to learn the "foundational" skills of our industry, including: Patterns and Principles Architectural Styles Object-oriented as well as Functional Your editor SQL I think most people absorb the first two as their career progresses, and some might dabble in the third. But how many of us take the time to learn SQL or an editing skill like Vim? SQL: The Gift That Keeps Giving Whenever I...