The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide Audiobook By John Sonmez cover art

The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide

How to Learn Programming Languages Quickly, Ace Your Programming Interview, and Land Your Software Developer Dream Job

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The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide

By: John Sonmez
Narrated by: John Sonmez
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About this listen

Technical knowledge alone isn't enough - increase your software development income by leveling up your soft skills

Early in his software developer career, John Sonmez discovered that technical knowledge alone isn't enough to break through to the next income level - developers need "soft skills" like the ability to learn new technologies just in time, communicate clearly with management and consulting clients, negotiate a fair hourly rate, and unite teammates and coworkers in working toward a common goal.

What you will learn in this book:

  • How to systematically find and fill the gaps in your technical knowledge so you can face any new challenge with confidence
  • Should you take contract work - or hold out for a salaried position? Which will earn you more, what the tradeoffs are, and how your personality should sway your choice
  • Should you learn JavaScript, C#, Python, C++? How to decide which programming language you should master first
  • Ever notice how every job ever posted requires "3-5 years of experience," which you don't have? Simple solution for this frustrating chicken-and-egg problem that allows you to build legitimate job experience while you learn to code
  • Is earning a computer science degree a necessity - or a total waste of time? How to get a college degree with maximum credibility and minimum debt
  • Coding boot camps - some are great, some are complete scams. How to tell the difference so you don't find yourself cheated out of $10,000
  • Interviewer tells you, "Dress code is casual around here - the development team wears flipflops." What should you wear?
  • How do you deal with a boss who's a micromanager. Plus how helping your manager with his goals can make you the MVP of your team
  • The technical skills that every professional developer must have - but no one teaches you (most developers are missing some critical pieces, they don't teach this stuff in college, you're expected to just "know" this)
©2017 Simple Programmer, LLC (P)2017 Simple Programmer, LLC
Career Success Employment Programming & Software Development Career Programming Software Development Software Inspiring Software Architecture
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Featured Article: The Best Audiobooks and Podcasts for Programmers


If you’re looking for the best audiobooks and podcasts about programming, you might be a programmer looking for resources and new perspectives to expand your knowledge. Or maybe you’re a newcomer still wondering if it's even possible to learn how to program from a book. Whether you’re brand new to programming or you’ve been fluent in Python, Java, C#, and the like for years, there are tons of great audio resources available to help you hone your skills.

What listeners say about The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide

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A master piece of mentorship from experience

I listened to this book looking for some little advices and good suggestions but I found more than I ever expected.

I saw my whole life in software development and I wished to have reached this material before a lot of times meanwhile I enjoyed this enthusiastic guy explaining better ways of thinking and doing.

I firmly recommend this book to anyone seeking to begin or improve a career in software development.

Enjoy!

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Required For All Software Developers

I’ve been a fan of John Sonmez for a couple years now, so when I knew he was coming out with this book I just had to have it. This book is a must have for any software developer. I would even go as far as saying this book has fallen somewhere in the pantheon of the greats much like Clean Code by “Uncle Bob”, which is referenced by John multiple times. John tells it how it is with a no bullshit approach, he is funny, informative, and he knows what he is talking about. As a “newer” developer This book has been very helpful, informative on my next steps to take my career to the next level, and motivational. Definitely worth the money, definitely worth the credit, I can’t recommend this book enough. John, you knocked it out of the park, you are awesome!

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A must read for all software developers

This book is a must read for all software developers. Every second of the book is exciting and engaging. It applies to software developers at all levels. I'm really glad that John Sonmez, narrated the audio version himself. His narration style make the book even more exciting.

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Very knowledgeable guy

Very helpful book. Not overly technical and some chapters weren't really helpful for me, but good real world knowledge shared.

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Super helpful, but I'm not the intended audience

Halfway through listening to this book I texted my friend that it felt like I got accidentally let into a boy's club meeting I am not supposed to be at. Don't get me wrong-- I loved this book. It was really helpful, I learned a ton, and it was definitely worth the listen. The extra materials you get access to are also definitely worth it. However...

As a woman who is pursuing a career in software development, I felt as though I am not an intended audience for this book at all and women are an afterthought (and a chapter put in at the end of the production cycle because an editor said something about it). It's primary, intended audience is male software developers, which makes sense because there are more men in the field, but I felt like just a few little things would have made it better and more equitable that don't involve a special segregated chapter with a disclaimer.

For example, at one point he compares trying to get a job to harassing a woman at a bar who has no interest in you and encourages the reader to not take no for an answer. He said that companies, like that woman, actually want you to succeed in picking them up. Now having been a woman harassed at a bar who really just wanted to be left alone (for real- not playing hard to get here), this is a horrible metaphor. I agree that you shouldn't give up on your first rejection when it comes to a job or something like that. But take no for an answer if a woman (or anyone) turns down your romantic or sexual advances. Not taking no for an answer in a potentially romantic or sexual scenario violates consent and is really not okay. Respect women's boundaries. And beyond that, women are not prizes to be won or earned or gained like a job. We are people, and I think most of us would appreciate not being compared to some kind of advancement prize or career gain. I almost quit listening after that, but I didn't.

There's also a section on how to dress for a software development job where he goes into detail about what you should wear, makes a side comment about not trusting women to tell you if your outfit is good for the job or not, and pretty much neglects women entirely. The supplemental materials connected to that chapter have checklists for men's fashion for work and there isn't a corresponding one for women or even an acknowledgment that he knows it's missing and he isn't qualified to speak on it, which is totally fair - I wouldn't go to him for fashion advice anyway- but an acknowledgement that it's missing wouldn't send the message that only men are software developers.
There's also a chapter on women in tech, which was ok I guess, but it felt like an afterthought. I don't expect him to write about that or even devote that much attention to it necessarily, but it felt a little forced.
Now all that said, I listened to the whole thing and read a lot of the supplemental materials. I decided to take the whole sitting in on a boy's club meeting I'm not supposed to be at feeling and use it as practice for when I'm inevitably in that situation in real life in my future career. I still highly recommend the book, but know what you're getting into.

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If you want a good understanding of programming...

THEN GET THIS BOOK. As A Self Taught Programmer, you tend to stumble until you get the right information, hopefully at the right time and fingers crossed with the right understanding of what to do with that information when you get it...if you get lucky enough to have gained just a small understanding of the programing language you want to use.

There is more to being a Programmer than just coding.

Being A Programmer Is A Way of Life If You Are Serious about being a Programmer.

I Had Absolutely no idea how to enter that world, let alone the proper way to Interact you the tech industry outside of A Tech Conference Here And There...

And believe you me when I tell you I was Extremely Under prepared, Uninformed and did not know it, but understood there was Vital Information Key to My Being A Professional Programmer That I did not Possess and did not understand how to go about getting that information.

Then I Started Listening To This Audiobook and literally my programming life changed overnight.


This audiobook has literally been THAT RIGHT INFORMATION AT THE RIGHT TIME. So Many Topics , Concepts and Proper Protocol were covered in This Audiobook that I can honestly say as A Newbie I would Have never figured it out or Even thought to Consider.

I literally got smarter just by listening to the Audiobook.

This Audiobook is All the missing pieces that nobody in the tech industry ever covers and seems to think is Standard Knowledge.

If you want to be a Programmer, Think Like A Programmer And Understand What It Really Means to Enter the Tech Industry as A Professional Programmer then this Book Will Be A God Send.

I Have Read A Few Tech Books and Watched Many " How To Be A Programmer" Youtube Videos, this is by far the best resource and most complete covering of the Topic I have Ever Come Across. It has taken me years to get the little bits and pieces of information I have gathered...the Audiobook just literally pulled all that information together and made it make sense in a way that Programming is no longer the thing I am trying to understand while trying to learn and create while trying to understand what I am doing.


This Book Covers The PROFESSIONAL way to Interact with the people and businesses in the Tech Industry.

This Book Will Not TEACH YOU TO CODE.

This Book Will Teach You What to do Once You Start Your Coding Journey and will plug A Lot Of Holes in The Information You Receive Through the Process.

If you do not have a tech background or new to the Professional TECH world and/or self taught like me then download this Book today.

It does not cover Languages in depth but more of the concepts of Coding.

IT IS Explained in a way that YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE PROGRAMMER ALREADY TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IS BEING SAID.


John Sense if humor is a little jokey jokey and plain out goofy....at first... at least the first few chapters (I was annoyed at first... until I realized HE KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT) After getting "His Sense of Humor" I Started to get More Information from him than Jokes.

He Can Be Silly at Times But More often than Not He Giving Out Gems Of Wisdom And REALLY GOOD INFORMATION Evey step of the way.

This Is That Audiobook That You Actually Learn While Listening and Come Away With Such A Deep Understanding Of What Being A Professional Programmer Is And Isn't.



Very Much Worth The 20 Hour Listen.

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Lifechanging!!!

I was expecting a rather specific and subject focussed career guide to the programming industry, but instead I was faced with a broad spectrum guide to living life to the fullest, but from the perspective of a programmer. Don't misunderstand me -- this is an awesome career guide for working or starting in the computer industry, but some of the broader fringe material that John Sonmez speaks about in this book is the most inspirational. And it's all dictated in such a casual, easy listening manner. If you are a good listener -- the kind of person who can maintain eye contact with the other person conversing in the room whilst concentrating on what they have to say -- then listening to this will feel like the author is in the room speaking to you personally. A real breath of fresh air.!

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very helpfull

I found this book very helpfull in clarifying the steps that I needed to take in order to get started in my software career.

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Totally suggest this.

All the extra content makes this beyond valuable. Glad I bought this version. Thank you.

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Pleasant and funny way of presenting it

I was a bit iffy at first thinking what in the world is a software developer book going to be as an audiobook, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Great insight great info, really recommended

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