My Job Went to India: And All I Got was this Lousy Book

Chad Fowler

Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2005 - Computer programmers - 185 pages

You've already lost your job. You may still be drawing a paycheck, but the job you were hired to do no longer exists. Your company has changed, the technology has changed, the economy has changed, and the ways you can add value have changed. Have you adapted to these changes? Or are you at risk?

Architect your career

Economic downturn. Job cuts. Outsourcing. The ever-changing tech landscape. The threats abound. Chad Fowler is here to offer 52 ways to keep your job, despite the vagaries of the market.

• It's all about making the right choices. Choosing which technologies to focus on and which business domains to master have at least as much impact on your success as your technical knowledge--don't let those choices be accidental. Chad shows you all aspects of the decision-making process so you can ensure that you're investing your time and energy in the right areas.
• It's all about skills. You'll develop a structured plan for keeping your skills up-to-date so that you can compete with both the growing stable of developers in so-called low-cost countries as well as your higher-priced local peers. You'll learn how to shift your skillset up the value chain, from an offshore-ready commodity to one in high demand.
• It's all about marketing. As with any product or service, if nobody knows what you're selling, nobody will buy. Chad shows you how to create a plan for marketing yourself both inside your company and to the industry in general.

Like it or not, the IT career landscape has changed. This handbook will teach you what you need to do to avoid being left behind.

About the authorChad Fowler has been a software developer and manager for some of the world's largest corporations. He recently lived and worked in India, setting up and leading an offshore software development center for a large multinational company.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - dvf1976 - LibraryThing

Another good book from the Pragmatic Programmers. It's amazing how much reading about good attitude actually influences me to have a good attitude. The week I read this, I was about as productive as I could hope to be.

User Review -

This book is not about India, it’s about you.The main idea of this book is that you should see your carrier as a product. So, as with any product your carrier should have a life cycle:
* choose your market
* invest into your product (career)
* execute
* market your product
You can see the full review here:
http://itblog.adrian.citu.name/2008/09/28/book-review-my-job-went-to-india-52-ways-to-save-your-job/ 

Contents

• Introduction Part IChoosing Your Market 1 Supply and Demand: 1
• Coding Dont Cut It Anymore: 2
• Lead or Bleed?: 3

About the author

Chad Fowler is an internationally known software developer, trainer, manager, speaker, and musician. Over the past decade he has worked with some of the world's largest companies and most admired software developers. He loves to program computers and, as part of his role as CTO of InfoEther, Inc., spends much of his time solving hard problems for customers in the Ruby language. He is co-organizer of RubyConf, RailsConf, and RailsConf Europe and author or co-author of a number of popular software books.

Bibliographic information

• Title: My Job Went to India: And All I Got was this Lousy Book; Pragmatic Bookshelf Series; Pragmatic Programmers Series
• Author: Chad Fowler
• Publisher: Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2005
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Jan 27, 2010
• ISBN: 0976694018, 9780976694014
• Length: 185 pages