{"id":179,"date":"2010-11-29T07:24:46","date_gmt":"2010-11-29T15:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/?p=179"},"modified":"2010-11-26T21:05:10","modified_gmt":"2010-11-27T05:05:10","slug":"book-review-being-geek","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nadynerichmond.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/29\/book-review-being-geek\/","title":{"rendered":"book review – “Being Geek”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been reading Michael Lopp’s blog, Rands in Repose<\/a>, for some time. \u00a0Lopp has a pretty good geek resume, with experience at Symantec, Borland, Netscape, and Apple. \u00a0His blog is one that I always read. \u00a0He’s got a great gift for distilling lessons out of his experiences. \u00a0Being Geek: The Software Developer’s Career Handbook<\/a><\/em> is mostly a compilation of his blog posts, with some new essays added to help define the overall arc of a geek’s career, from starting at a new job to deciding to move on to the next one.<\/p>\n

Looking on my own experience in tech companies, I think that his advice is often spot-on. \u00a0There have been times when I’ve read one of his blog posts after a difficult situation and found myself understanding it better. \u00a0He’s got a keen eye for detail and for understanding the nuances of geek behaviour, as well as all of the interacting forces that come into play when you’re working for a big geek company. \u00a0I’ve gone back to read half-remembered posts that I felt were pertinent to a given situation.<\/p>\n

I found it amusing that Lopp says in his introduction that he’s not writing a book that gives you ten steps for anything, or that will define the five characteristics of a top leader, but most of his essays are structured in just that form: distill a situation into some archetypes, identified by Capital Letters or catchy names for people and their foibles. \u00a0For an occasional blog post, I don’t mind this style; as a book, this structure got rather repetitive. \u00a0While I love the blog, I found that I couldn’t read the book for more than a half-hour without losing interest because the style just didn’t work for an actual book.<\/p>\n

Honestly, I was hoping for more. \u00a0The blog is excellent. \u00a0I hoped that a book would use the blog as a starting point and give more consideration, more depth, to the topic at hand. \u00a0But it’s not there. \u00a0If, like me, you’ve been reading his blog for some time, I can’t really recommend this book. \u00a0You’ve read most of it before, albeit in a different order. \u00a0The new pieces don’t really add that much. \u00a0If you’re not a reader of his blog, this book is a good look at moving through your geek career. \u00a0I’d recommend adding his blog to your reading list while you’re at it.<\/p>\n

Here’s a list of the blog posts which are included in the book. \u00a0I think this is complete, but I might be wrong if something got re-titled or my search-fu was weak. \u00a0Also, I didn’t do more than a cursory glance when looking for the blog posts, so it’s possible that blog posts were updated for inclusion in the book.<\/p>\n