The main things I got out of the book were that I need to do much better with my time management (maybe I'll try those 2x4 hour burns and kick my internet surfing habit) and I should need to build on my reputation through daily hits and contributing code. That and I really need to find a mentor.
My notes and thoughts:
Choosing your market:
Supply and Demand: Find a skill that you can use that doesn't compete with India on price.
Coding don't cut it anymore: Need to know the business as well as the technology to add value.
Be the Worst: be the worst on the team so that other people are pulling you up.
Invest in your intelligence: Capitalize on the opportunities you have to learn other technologies.
Don't listen to your parents: Don't stay in a comfortable situation, challenge yourself.
Be a generalist: Don't be a PHP guy, be a software engineer.
Be a specialist: (what about generalist again?) Really know the internals of your language.
Don't put all your eggs in the same basket: like being a generalist, don't be a PHP only guy, don't follow one vendor.
Love it or leave it: Love it or find something else.
Investing in Your Product:
Learn how businesses really work: enough said.
Find a mentor: someone who can pull you up.
Be a mentor: you also learn by teaching.
Practice, Practice, Practice: Don't worry about making mistakes, but this should be focused practice.
The Way That You Do It: (meh) implement a process.
On the Shoulders of Giants: Look at previous or open source code for insights. Really read it.
Automate Yourself into a Job: It makes you a lot more productive.
Executing:
Mind Reader: Listen to what people say, they'll give you hints at what they want before they realize it.
Daily Hit: (yes) Do something good every day.
Remember who you work for: keep the business goal in mind, you're not programming for yourself.
Be Where You're At: (meh) Do the best you can right now, don't make enemies by being ambitious.
How Good a Job Can I Do Today?: (meh) Have fun, try to make menial tasks interesting.
How Much Are You Worth?: (yes!) probably 2x your salary. Are you doing things to make yourself worth it?
A Pebble in a Bucket of Water: You can be replaced, life will go on.
Learn to Love Maintenance: Chances are you'll do a lot, so why not enjoy it. You might even stand out.
Eight-Hour Burn: (yes!) working more hours isn't necessarily better. Try to focus for 4 hours (2 times)
Learn How to Fail: you can learn more from failure than from success.
Say "No": Give realistic answers, don't say "yes" just to keep people happy.
Don't Panic: Heroes stay cool and don't panic. Be a hero. (Noskill in Doom).
Say it, do it, show it: Make a checklist and check things off. Show it to your boss. Status reports!
Marketing... Not Just for Suits:
Adventure Tour Guide: Customers might fear you because they rely so heavily on you. Make the process painless.
Me Rite Reel Nice: Learn how to spell... and write!
Being Present: (yes!) face to face communication is nice.
Suit Speak: Learn how to talk about your projects in terms of the business/customer.
Change the World: Let people know what you've done and what you intend to do. Visible change.
Let Your Voice Be Heard: (yes!) write, give presentations, contribute to your community.
Build Your Brand: Don't water down your name, it is your brand. Build it (SEO stuff).
Release Your Code: Put it on github or contribute to projects.
Remarkability: Do something to be remarkable, don't just BE remarkable.
Making the Hang: associate with the good people. Hang out with them.
Maintaining Your Edge:
You've already lost your job: Everything changes, even your job description.
Path with No Destination: Like the Dark Tower, the journey is the important part. Do good things along the way to promotions and titles.
Make Yourself a Map: (meh) think of where you want to be tomorrow and beyond. Constantly do better.
Watch the Market: Knowledge investments - you may need to drop technologies that are no longer applicable even though you've put a lot into them. You're still better by acquiring that knowledge.
That Fat Man in the Mirror: You may need to check with people you don't see often to know how you're doing.
The South Indian Monkey Trap: Don't be too rigid in your values (putting Linux on every desktop...)
Avoid Waterfall Career Planning: change is necessary in your career. Make your career yours.
Better than yesterday: (yes!) small, incremental improvements build over time. Just be better than you were yesterday.
Go Independent: It really moves you whereas you can get too comfortable in large corporations. (been there, done that)
Have Fun!
