Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual Paperback – November 11, 2020

So I kept getting these third-person viewpoint shifts - not John’s writing but my reading. I don’t DO software development day in day out. I support devs, engineer the systems they develop for, admin their servers. I’ve managed them, worked with them, and yes been one - but me doing development was back when Moore’s Law was merely a strong suggestion.Thing is, when I’m reading along and start thinking “whoa- that’s not me” I still get a definite “hmm. But I would tell a young dev that too, yeah.” Bottom line on applicability is you don’t have to be exactly the software developer of the title to benefit.A lot of John’s thoughts mesh with F.I.R.E. - well and good, but I’m sixty. The boat for me to “retire early” sailed, hit a rock, and sank. I’ll settle for “retire eventually”. Younger readers: listen to John. Compound interest is your friend, as is passive income. Debt mostly isn’t... until it is. Knowing where you want to go is kinda important, yup.His take on multitasking is good: “don’t, unless it’s two things that don’t interfere, then by all means do”. Some of his refrain does seem to be “concentrate; do one thing well at a time” - that’s good. Today’s fractured focuses and 160-character attention spans will get nowhere. He leaves out the same other “multi” that most folks omit though. Multipotentialites (see Emilie Wapnick) aka Scanners (see Barbara Sher) thrive on - nay, *demand* multiple irons in the fire. Not as a task-switching detrimental thing, but more as serial focusers, or how I think of my System Engineering mindset - not so much doing several things at once, but doing each thing several ways at once. The folks who have had multiple disparate careers get some of this naturally - in John’s domain maybe by simultaneously coding, with an eye toward functionality, security, marketability, useability, maintainability (all near-field overlaps), and also by keeping in mind say the legal or medical or fitness or <whatever> distant-domain or subject matter experience you have. That’s a richness of experience thing that we gray & venerable ones might bring to the table. Some outfits synthesize this by ensuring teams are diverse - that works too.I was curious what John has to say about standing or treadmill desks. Mmm-hmm. Yes. Unh-huh. Voila- now you too are curious. As for me, I’m satisfied. What, you want spoilers?In the fitness section Jon talks a bit about gadgets. Not sure why he didn’t mention you already have a pedometer if you carry an iPhone. In several places in the book he mentions gamification as motivation & method. There’s whole books on the how-to and why of that, so don’t expect Soft Skills to have a comprehensive treatment. That’s true across the board by the way - John freely mentions this other author or that resource left and right rather than trying to distill all the wisdom he’s picked up to a few paragraphs. There’s still plenty of original meat to be worthwhile.I’m glad he has material about spirit/mind/attitude/self-image - I also believe we’re more than sophisticated sentient meat automatons. From my background I’m more skeptical than he about lasting positive changes being able to arise wholly from within, but he does point out good stuff. He gives a clear description of the Stoicism he’s embraced. I see why some outside both paths have commented there’s some commonality between that and my Christianity. I guess I’d say his take isn’t grossly at odds with my faith - I don’t feel at all like avoiding his conclusions through the book based on where he’s coming from. Christians can read this and not be put off by “woo” :-).For somebody with a pretty assertive personality John mentions in multiple places “this is working for me- it’s not the be-all and end-all.”I’m glad I bought it. I’ll read it again soon.

I bought and gave Sonmez’s Soft Skills a read years ago. That was the first edition. The book goes well beyond basic suggestions for career development and gives you crucial life development concepts that too few ever even consider. I’ve been around long enough to have seen old friends and associates begin in roughly the same place but end up in wildly different places -- financially, romantically, physically, in terms of impact on their respective fields, and in terms of their mindset of what’s possible for the future (note: not all mindsets are created equal).Why read this second edition? You don’t acquire a finely built piano, have it tuned professionally, and then never tune it again. You keep tuning it regularly. You don’t take your ride in for maintenance and say “Well, that’s done!” and then never again take your car in for a tune-up. You repeat the process every now and then to make sure everything is as it ought to be. And so it is with this book.I’m always learning something new and have a habit of getting into minutia. For me, that’s fun. But it’s also a timesink and time is increasingly scarce. And Sonmez’s tips on learning is a fine reminder of how to acquire knowledge skills rapidly. The section on learning and the 10-step process for learning how to learn is more than worth the price of the book -- literally. I’ve purchased Sonmez’s course based on the same concept and I can tell you (shh... don’t tell John) that the bulk of the content, the important stuff, is right here for a small fraction of the price.Does it work? Yes. Also, consider that the techniques taught are quite similar to what you find in Scott Young's book Ultralearning (published long after the first edition of Soft Skills) and that Scott Young, a polymath who knows his stuff, also offers his own course but at many times the price of Sonmez's. Not to get wrapped up in prices and comparison shopping but my point is that there are many options for learning how to learn and this book offers a nice, neat methodology for one of the lowest demands on your wallet.How about how well his advice on physical fitness and financial success works? Yes, it’s all sound principles and sources are provided as well. And, frankly, just dive in to Sonmez’s YouTube videos. After you’ve spent some months there you will see for yourself that he writes what he knows and puts it all into practice. A ripped physique and enough money earned from his endeavors to basically spend his time doing what he wants in his early 30s, the guy knows what it takes to succeed.Recommended.

There were some bits of useful information in this book, but overall it was mostly fairly basic, sometimes even common sense, advice. If you're totally green and young, then this is probably a worthwhile read, but if you've been in the industry or lived life for a time, you'd be better off spending your time reading another book that is more in depth.Some of the advice and writing did offer value such as some specific tools the author uses for automating tasks and concrete examples of how to dodge questions in a salary negotiation to your advantage. There was also some value in the last chapters on fitness with concrete examples of dieting and fasting methods that the author has used successfully. The last several chapters were the most valuable for me.Outside of a few of those tips, the book had mostly generic advice that wasn't very insightful, but good advice to be sure. For example in the Financial related chapter, he says things like - "make the most profitable investments you can." Thanks for the tip? There are more than a few self evident pieces of advice like that throughout the book that kind of leave you feeling a bit disappointed.At the end of the day it does what a lot of good self help books do, which is to get the gears in your mind going and inspire you with success stories.