career

Steve Jobs - Remembering that I'll be dead soon (follow your heart)

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

How much are you worth to your employer?

This is a short story from my book, A Survival Guide for New Consultants:

A long time ago -- 1991 to be exact -- a friend of mine named Joe was a contractor for the aerospace company I worked at. Just like a consultant, Joe was paid by the hour.

My consulting book: 'You want me to do what? A Survival Guide for New Consultants'

Just a quick note today that while I've been busy working on my next book (which will be printed by a major publisher), I just noticed that sales of my last eBook, "You Want Me to Do What?

My new book: 'You want me to do what? A Survival Guide for New Consultants'

In 1993, I took a leap of faith, and began a career as a software consultant. I initially worked at a "full-service" computer company, left that company after three years, lived out a one-year noncompete agreement, then started my own business named "Mission Data" in 1996. I sold that company in 2007, started Alexander Consulting in 2008, and later created Valley Programming when I moved to Alaska. During these years my salary went from $30,000 to over $300,000 per year.

Software consulting tip: Where there's mystery, there's money

I don’t remember where I heard it first, but possibly the most important phrase I’ve ever heard related to the consulting field is this:

Where there’s mystery, there’s money.

CakePHP, Drupal, and LAMP/PHP job market - 2011

CakePHP and Drupal jobs, 2011 - Way back in December, 2009, I first started looking at the PHP job market, specifically CakePHP, Drupal, and LAMP/PHP job openings. I forgot to run the queries again this past December, but I just took a few moments to update them, so ... here is a quick look at the PHP developer job market in January, 2011.

Two lessons learned in college: How to learn, and Adapting to the "client"

This article is now part of my new eBook, which is only $2.99 on Amazon.com:

You want me to do what? A Survival Guide for New Consultants

I hope you enjoy my book, and more than that, I hope it helps you have a very profitable and rewarding career.

 

I'd rather die than build another web app

Wow, a friend of mine sent me an email yesterday that echoes my sentiments exactly, and he doesn't hold anything back. With his permission, I'm sharing it here:

Man, I'd rather die than create another friggin' web app. I mean, who really gives a crap about web apps? What the **** are these apps doing for the real good of the world? Who cares if you can order a pizza online, or share photos easier than we did 10 years ago? I just don't want to look back on my life and think that I spent it creating friggin' web apps.

Programmers, programming, and Zen

I started browsing through the book "The Cathedral & the Bazaar" again recently, and I was surprised to come across a quote where the author, Eric S. Raymond, refers to Zen. In the section on "How to become a hacker", he writes that many hackers (where "hackers" refers to good programmers, and "crackers" is a derogatory term about people like to break into other people's accounts) like obvious things, like science fiction, music, and puns and wordplay.

Current developer jobs (2009)

For anyone making a New Year's resolution of finding a new developer/programming job, here is a collection of links to my "developer jobs" articles that I've written over the last few weeks.

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