* Welcome Andy Lester

[Jeanne Boyarsky]

This week, we're delighted to have Andy Lester helping to answer questions about the new book Land the Tech Job You Love. See the table of contents online.

The promotion starts Tuesday, August 4th 2009 and will end on Friday, August 7th 2009.

We'll be selecting four random posters in this forum to win a free copy of the book provided by the publisher, Pragmatic.

Please see the Book Promotion page to ensure your best chances at winning!

Posts in this welcome thread are not eligible for the drawing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd like to personally thank Pragmatic for being party to both our server upgrades/moves over the past two years. Not expecting problems with the forum this time, but I really appreciate your patience during the last one.

The Feburary 2008, "surprise we need a new server"

the first promo after last weekend's server move

As for the trip down memory lane, here's a shout out to the promo of February 19, 2008 - Groovy Recipes: Greasing the Wheels of Java.

[edited because this last part was harder to post than I expected]

[Andy Lester]

Thanks for the kind welcome. I've been looking forward to this week for some time.

My job hunting and worklife blog is at theworkinggeek.com, where I hope to carry on conversations with you all after this week is over. For the Perl users out there, I also maintain perlbuzz.com.

Can't wait to hear some of the questions from the Java Ranch!

Andy

[Henry Wong]

Welcome Andy, and thanks for your support during this promotion.

Henry

[Bear Bibeault]

Welcome to the Ranch Andy!

Posters, please remember that this topic is for welcoming the author. Please be sure to post your questions in new topics to be eligble for the give-away.

[Steve Adam]

Hey Andy
Congrats for your new book !!

The name of the book itself attracted my attention. I read the contents and that seems fun to read.
I wish you all the best with the book.

[question removed -- please ask questions in new topics]

Cheers !

[arulk pillai]

Welcome Andy. Seems to be a very interesting and valuable topic.

[Andy Lester]

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone.

Kun All wrote:The name of the book itself attracted my attention.

I'm glad to hear it. Naming the book was one of the hardest parts, but I knew I wanted the word "love" in the title, as you'll see below.

The book came about for two reasons. First, I'd been interviewing programmers for years, and I'd seen far too many come through my office and interview terribly. They'd sit quietly and just answer questions, without having any passion for their work. They'd be unable to translate their technical work into the language the business speaks: Time and money. It seemed like many just came through, winging it as they went.

Second, I'd talked to so many of my friends and colleagues in technical jobs and industries who were unhappy with their jobs. I heard complaints that their jobs were boring, or they felt unappreciated, or they hated the kind of work they were doing. Nobody complained about money, because that was an easy benchmark to work on. Happiness was something else. I loved the job I was in, and I believe that everyone can and should love what they do. Life is too short to spend working in a crappy job.

I looked at the books available at my bookstores and on Amazon, and I noticed that very few were aimed at techies. These authors cast a wide net across anyone looking for a job, but I knew techies had a higher hurdle to clear when job hunting because other techies are fierce competition. Worse, the technical books seemed to be crib sheets as if studying for a test, giving answers to memorize. What a terrible way to prepare for an interview!

I pulled it all together to write the book that I would want to read myself. I wanted it to be direct talk, without fluff. I wanted it to be specifically for techies. And I wanted it to include some of the funny horror stories from real people that I couldn't have made up if I tried.

It's a guidebook, but it's not recipes. There's no appendix of "sample resumes", because you can get those anywhere. Instead, I talk about the parts of the resume you may want to put in, and leave the specifics up to you, because your situation is different than anyone else's. There is no right or wrong way to do a resume. In fact, the idea of having "a resume" is wrong in itself. You send out a different resume every time, tailored to the job you're pursuing. We're all smart, we all work in the brainwork industry, so why do we turn off our brains and expect easy pat answers when looking for a job?

Finally, I talk a lot about communications and relationships during the process. Too often I see techies who seem to treat the interviewing process as a game, or a puzzle to be defeated, with the interviewer as a defender of a prize. That's 100% wrong. Instead, think of the interview as the first day on the job, and you're going to a business meeting with your boss-to-be. Reframing the process in this way puts you far above everyone else. It helps you prepare by learning to think like the hiring manager, and considering her needs and those of the company.

I'm hoping that it answers a need, especially coming out as it does during this rotten financial situation. The competition is higher, and if you're not applying these ideas to finding a job, chances are you'll lose the next gig to someone who is.

[Katrina Owen]

Welcome, Andy,

This promises to be a very interesting week!

Best,
Katrina

[aparna dingankar]

All the best for your book

[Andy Lester]

Katrina Owen wrote:This promises to be a very interesting week!

Thanks, Katrina. I'm hoping that you'll let me stick around after this week, too, even if I've never written any Java.

[Sandeep Awasthi]

Welcome Andy!
I am sure this will be very interesting book for me.

[Katrina Owen]

Andy Lester wrote:
Thanks, Katrina. I'm hoping that you'll let me stick around after this week, too, even if I've never written any Java.

Do, stay!

I haven't written much java either - I landed here by chance due to the Cattle Drive. Auspicious day

[aparna dingankar]

Thanks Andy for such a lovely book
I am currently searching for new job with no success I am sure this book will be help ful for me.
Thanks

[Vijitha Kumara]

Welcome Andy,

[Andy Lester]

Jigar Naik wrote:Is this book available in India ?

I'm not sure about sales channels outside of the US, but it's available from Amazon as well as other online sources. The ISBN is 978-1934356265.

You can also get the electronic book direct from Pragmatic in PDF, .mobi and .epub format.

[Jigar Naik]

Allright

Thanks Andy.

[Hong Anderson]

Welcome Andy. I'm appreciated your effort in writing this interesting book.

[peter kosmas]

Hello Andy and welcome !
I don't usually enter here ! but the title of this book glued to me not expensive to buy too !
(offcaurse i would like a free copy) but dont mind buying it
what i would like to know about your book is !
Can this book Cover situations in other places except US or UK !
Here in Greece lots Are un Organized and some companies do not work with Standards !
can this book be helpfull In a NON US or NON UK Country ?

[Andy Lester]

peter kosmas wrote:can this book be helpfull In a NON US or NON UK Country ?

I tried to keep everything country-neutral, but there may be differences between the US and Greece, I'm sure.

That said, it's as much a book about attitude and finding your own direction and working your own enthusiasm as anything else. The ideas about translating your programming skills into business value translate to any company in any country.

[peter kosmas]

That is true and Correct !
That is what i need i supose !
Good work i allways was looking a such kind of book ! i purchased the Rapid Development book for that job but
it was mostly for managers not for employes ! !
Now i supose i can get this Book to know how to act when i meet
1. Stupid Managers
2. Bad Team Members
3. Un organized people !
4. People that don't want to help you !
Attitude is a very difficult part when Working with people !
I'check for it on Amazon The price is very acceptable!

Thanks a lot !

[sanker san]

The book title aroused my curiosity to find out more about the book. The contents and editorial reviews increased my inquisitiveness. I have seen many people (including me) who are really good in writing code and executing projects but may not succeed a techie interview.

[please ask question in a separate topic]

[Andy Lester]

sanker san wrote:Could you please comment about the role of technical certifications in a job interview?

It all depends on what the hiring company wants. Some companies find certifications to be very important, and some think they're not worth the paper they're printed on.

I'm not sure how they'd relate to an interview, though.