Articles About Software Development Career-Related Topics

The key to maintaining a good employment outlook in IT, it seems, is to move out of programming and up into more business-oriented IT positions such as systems analyst, business analyst, project manager, or systems architect. However, a computer programmer can't just decide to become a systems analyst or project manager overnight.

So what does it mean to be a professional programmer? What does it mean to be a professional anything? Some definitions simply say to be a professional is "to make money from a skill," but true professionals also have a set of qualities often described as "professionalism." In my opinion, these qualities are...

Before I became a supervisor, the very notion that someone might be monitoring my Internet usage was not only horrifying, but demoralizing. Didn’t they trust me?

The people who come and go in a software shop may eventually be forgotten, but the tracks programmers leave behind make a lasting impression.

Who owns the copyright to custom software--the person who designed and coded it, or the person who commissioned the work? The answer might surpise you.

We may not receive a lot of public recognition, but developers are a lot like actors or directors, our careers punctuated by each software smash. It's amazingly easy to fall into the typecasting trap.

An interview with Jason Della Rocca of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA).

I’m well acquainted with such people because I display all their qualities. What we share is an honest dedication to our work--so much dedication that we abuse our own bodies, if necessary, to get the work done.

Have you opened your bonus check only to find that the amount was much less than you were anticipating?

I still remember the welcoming speech a computer science professor gave his class of eager freshmen almost 20 years ago: "Find a another profession where you won’t constantly beat your head against the wall."

Can we possibly keep a project on schedule and under budget while simultaneously pleasing both clients and management? It's like being expected to be rich, beautiful, and smart!

Somewhere between algorithms and altruism lies Programmer's Purgatory.  Sure, career burnout is occasionally attributable to work volume, but more often it results from inner conflict...

An interview with Paul Hanrahan of the Programmer's Guild.

A truly rich and fruitful specialty will take years to master, and even better, a large base of adopters will lead to continuous innovation, meaning that there is still continuous learning opportunity...

How does one come about one’s specialty or specialties?  Once we have chosen a specialty (or after our specialty has chosen us), how do we maintain that specialty?

We were not sure if we would find them, but we were looking for developers who were serious about their craft, who had reached an advanced level of general software development knowledge...

Resumes may seem like something of a mundane topic, but after spending the last few weeks wading through programmer resumes, it is clear to me that most software developers need help with their resumes.

Too often, members of a team do not understand the power a non-appointed leader can have in influencing the direction of a team, or in initiating change.

Each of us who works as an employee or contractor for someone else thinks about starting our own company from time to time--some of us more than others--but not everyone has the temperament for it.

How many of us have, or will, sacrifice ourselves on the altar of someone else's software project?  I know I have.