Structure of This Book

This book is written in small mini-chapters, called tips, that are designed to address a single topic within a few pages. Some are longer by necessity. Related tips are close together, but you can read them in any order. If you’re going for the big picture, go ahead and read it from cover to cover. But feel free to flip around—when tips need to reference each other, that’s stated explicitly in the text.

We start close to the code: Chapter 1, ​Program for Production​ starts from your programming talent and gives you guidance on making it production-ready. Nobody wants to ship buggy code, but it’s especially challenging on industrial-scale projects to ensure that your code is correct and well-tested.

Next, Chapter 2, ​Get Your Tools in Order​ helps with your workflow. You’ll need to coordinate with others, automate builds, and learn new technologies as you go. Plus, you’ll need to hammer out a ton of code. It pays to invest in your tools up front.

Then we get into the squishier side of things. The one manager you’ll have throughout your life is you, and Chapter 3, ​Manage Thy Self​ gets you started on issues such as stress management and job performance.

No programmer is an island, so Chapter 4, ​Teamwork​ focuses on working with others. Don’t discount people skills—true, you were hired to be good at computers, but industry is a team sport.

Then we get to the bigger picture. Chapter 5, ​Inside the Company​ considers all the moving pieces that make up a typical high-tech company and your part within the whole. It ultimately tries to answer, “What do all these people do all day?”

Closer to home is the business of software. Chapter 6, ​Mind Your Business​ gets into who’s paying your paycheck and why, the life cycle of a software project, and how your day-to-day programming changes with that life cycle.

Finally, Chapter 7, ​Kaizen​ looks forward. The Japanese Kaizen is a philosophy of continuous improvement, and I hope to see you on that path before we part ways.