Making it Big in Software: Get the Job. Work the Org. Become Great.

The Software Insider’s Guide to Getting Hired and Getting to the Top!

Here’s all the information you need to jumpstart your software career: the best ways to get hired, move up, and blaze your way to the top! The software business has radically changed, and this book reveals today’s realities–everything your professors and corporate managers never told you. In his 20 years at IBM as a software architect, senior manager, and lead programmer, Sam Lightstone has briefed dozens of leading companies and universities on careers, new technology, and emerging areas of research. He currently works on one of the world’s largest software development teams and spends a good part of his time recruiting and mentoring software engineers. This book shares all the lessons for success Sam has learned…plus powerful insights from 17 of the industry’s biggest stars. Want to make it big in software? Start right here!

Discover how to

• Get your next job in software development
• Master the nontechnical skills crucial to your success
• “Work the org” to move up rapidly
• Successfully manage your time, projects, and life
• Avoid “killer” mistakes that could destroy your career
• Move up to “medium-shot,” “big-shot,” and finally, “visionary”
• Launch your own winning software company

Table of Contents

Part I: Fundamentals
Chapter 1 Making It Big
Chapter 2 What Good Software Is Really About
Chapter 3 School Versus Job
Chapter 4 Mission Impossible? Getting a Job in Software Development
Chapter 5 Making the Most of the Early Years As a Software Developer
Chapter 6 Essential Skills. Some Are Even Technical
Chapter 7 The Sweet Science of Software R&D Organizations
Chapter 8 Career Killers

Part II: Leadership
Chapter 9 Working the Org
Chapter 10 Successful Software Project Proposals
Chapter 11 Career Advancement
Chapter 12 Time Management
Chapter 13 Avoiding Software Development Overruns
Chapter 14 Zen and the Critical Art of Balance
Chapter 15 Secret Insights on Software Project Management
Chapter 16 The Big Leagues: From Medium-Shot to Big-Shot

Part III: Greatness
Chapter 17 Leadership in Software Innovation
Chapter 18 The Big Leagues: From Big-Shot to Visionary
Chapter 19 If I Knew Then What I Know Now
Chapter 20 Going Out on Your Own: The “Software Startup”
Chapter 21 Compensation: Kuh-ching!
Chapter 22 Making It Big?