How to Become a Highly Paid Corporate Programmer

ISBN: 158347045X
EAN: 2147483647

Year: 2003
Pages: 162

Authors: Paul H. Harkins

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BackCover
BackCover
How to Become a Highly Paid Corporate Programmer
Preface
Why I Wrote This Book
Tips for Trainees, Guidance for Veterans
Advice From the Experts
A Coding Fix
Section 1: Starting a Successful Programming Career
Chapter One : How Much Are You Worth?
Nice Work - and You Can Get It
Everything Is Economic
You ve Got to Know the Territory
From Cutter to Coder, on Pure Grit
Chapter Two: A Primer For Fledgling Programmers
Establish an Intelligent Routine
Ask to Work on Major Corporate Business
Reach for the Business Function That Makes You Most Valuable
Note That Good Things Come in Big Packages
Chapter Three: What Your Boss Really Wants from You
Fair Warning About Problems
Confidence
Positive Feedback about You
Accuracy
Putting Your Work Ahead of Your Ego
The Prudent I Don t Know
Respect
The View from the Top
Chapter Four: Tips from a Technical Interviewer
Make Your Own Break
Satisfaction Beyond the Salary
Chapter Five: Final Interview? Ask These Questions
Question 1: What s My Access to the Computer?
Question 2: How Powerful Is the Computer?
Question 3: Where Will I Be Working?
Question 4: Can I Minimize Distractions?
Question 5: Will I Receive Strong Oversight?
Question 6: Is the Work Ethic Respected?
Chapter Six: What You Won t Learn in Programming School
Surprise: It Takes More than Good Coding
College is Only One Credential
Write New Programs - Make More Money
How to Become a Marketable Programmer
Chapter Seven: The Beauty of Borrowed Code
Tap into an Expert s Brain
Why Reinvent the Wheel?
Copy Code, but Build Your Own Sound Design
Don t Wing It
How to Find Reusable Code
Even with Borrowed Code, You Need to Test, Test, Test
Chapter Eight: Learning from the Masters
Don t Split the Business Logic
Cloning the Brain of a Programming Master
Why Delete Your Safety Net?
Pilot That Program
Chapter Nine: Techies and Bit-Twiddlers Are Doomed
Keep It Simple
Bit-Twiddlers Get (and Deserve) No Glory
Technical Skills Can Do You Wrong
The Rewards of True Creativity Are Many
Section 2: Thriving in a Competitive Environment
Chapter Ten: Harnessing the Brute Force of Calculation
Save Your Brain
Beware the Queue
Tales from the Queue
The Best Compile Strategy
Chapter Eleven: Take On the Tough Jobs
I Had a Dream - to Get Ahead
Driving Toward the Goal
Risking Failure in Full View
The Ultimate Goal: Founding Your Own Firm
Chapter Twelve: Mission: Impossible
Life on the Road for a Consulting Programmer
First Morning - So Far, So Good
Dawning Dismay
How to Master a Killer Project
Chapter Thirteen: How Your Work Is Tracked
What the Project Number Means to Your Career
Projects and Project Numbers Can Live Forever
Chapter Fourteen: Boost Your Output and Lower Your Stress with Productivity Tools
Racing Computer, Plodding Programmer
Specific Productivity Tools and Their Value to You
Getting the Tools You Need
Chapter Fifteen: A Blueprint for Savvy Programming
Step 2: Design the Solution to the Request
Step 3: Develop the Project into Blocks of Work
Step 4: Write the Project Program as a Prototype Program
Step 5: Test Your Program Exhaustively with Valid Corporate Data
Chapter Sixteen: Master Millions of Lines of Complex Code
Don t Just Look at the Source Code
The Value of Landmarks
The Ignored Hello
Chapter Seventeen: Good Enough Programming for the Seasoned Programmer
How to Measure Good Enough
When to Abandon Ship
Chapter Eighteen: How Seasoned Programmers Stay at the Top of Their Game
Setting Your Own Benchmarks
When Your Benchmark Is Another Programmer
Chapter Nineteen: Self-Management Tips for the Seasoned Professional
Recognize a Great Programming Team When You See It
Dare to Say No
Chapter Twenty: Spotting Opportunities, Skirting Land Mines
Tiptoeing Through a Minefield
Opportunities to Spread Your Wings
Section 3: Mastering the Corporate Culture
Chapter Twenty One: Slipping Into a New Corporate Culture
Don t Be the Arrogant Newbie
Don t Assume That You Know What Got You the Job
Avoid Ramming Your Ideas Down Everyone s Throat
Accept the Status Quo...for Now
Chapter Twenty Two: Mentors and Mentees
Why Do They Bother?
You Learn More Than Your Business
You Learn More of Your Business
How to Find a Mentor
My Best Mentor
You as a Mentor
Chapter Twenty Three: How Do You Deal with the End User?
Courtesy Is a Mandate
Relationship Building is a Process, Not an Isolated Task
Chapter Twenty Four: When You Get a Really Bad Boss
Sometimes, the System Will Save You
Sometimes, You Have to Save Yourself
Chapter Twenty Five: A Raise and a Promotion In-House
Get the Lay of the Land
Outflank Your Manager
Chapter Twenty Six: A Big Push Out of the House
How to Know When It s Time to Leave
How to Plan Your Leaving
How to Behave on Your Way Out the Door
Section 4: Beyond Programming
Chapter Twenty Seven: Jumping to Management
Reinvention 1: From Programmer to Director of Systems Analysis
Reinvention 2: From Programmer to Vice-President of Operations
Chapter Twenty Eight: The Top of the Pyramid: The Programmer Consultant
The Brokered Programming Consultant
What to Consider Before Venturing Out
The Programmer Consultant Environment
How Good Are You?
Who Will Hire You?
Chapter Twenty Nine: Write for Your Industry
Fame, if Not Fortune
Finding the Market Is Easy
Shaping Your Ideas Is the Next Step
My First Sale
My First IT Magazine Sale
After the Article Is Published
Chapter Thirty: Founding and Running Your Own Firm
The Struggle to Survive Was Brutal
There s a Crossroads in Everyone s Career
I Had to Get Out
Making the Break
The Joy of Ownership
Chapter Thirty One: Inventing Your Own Software
The Idea That Wouldn t Let Go
Day to Day Life in a Bootstrap Operation
Up and Running
Chapter Thirty Two: Marketing Your Product
The Mystifying Weakness of the Sensible Approach
Tips from an Inventor with Marketing Savvy
What I Could Have Done Better
List of Sidebars