Book Review: “Being Geek: The Software Developer’s Career Handbook”

“Being Geek” covers the career path of a software developer and the goals therein. Along the path are anecdotes of failures, disasters and the occasional bright spot. The writing style is addictive, and Rands clearly lays out the perils in transitioning from someone in the front lines of operations to a manager. It’s clear that many people have trouble making this transition, and Rands breaks down why.

Although the book is written from a software perspective, any engineer working today who is a self-confessed “geek” will find value in this book. The organization of the book does lend itself to choosing a particular chapter when one runs into an important life-event, but reading it from cover-to-cover felt just as natural. I’d strongly recommend all technical workers pick up a copy and learn the lessons contained therein.