How To Keep Your Job

Jay Zimmerman (www.completeprogrammer.net) arranged for me to give a talk at the Austin Java User’s Group (www.austinjug.org) as a way of publicizing his upcoming Lone Start Software Symposium. I decided to try giving my "How to Keep You Job" talk for the first time (online at www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/talks/HowToKeepYourJob/HowToKeepYourJob.htm).

I’ve been getting more and more convinced that this topic is significant. The industry is changing underneath us, and most developers seem oblivious, preferring to blame the recession rather than face an awkward fact: we’re never going back to the easy life of the late 90’s. Instead, every developer is increasingly going to have to fight to stay attractive, working hard to develop the skills needed as the industry matures and more and more of our work becomes commoditized.

I’m liking the Knowledge Portfolio metaphor as well: it seems to communicate the idea of taking personal responsibility for your future. The financial portfolio concepts of planning, diversification, regular investing and periodic rebalancing fit nicely into the knowledge metaphor too.

Comments

[Jamie Flournoy]

The link to the actual talk is broken.