<ul>
<li>Conquer the problems that all professional programmers routinely face, regardless of language, operating system, or platform
<li>Improve your ability to deliver solid code, on time and under budget, in even the most uncooperative environments
<li>Master the self-defense techniques that you need to shield yourself, your project, and your code from corporate politics, arbitrary management decisions, and marketing-driven deadlines
</ul>
</p>
<p>
Unrealistic schedules, unstable releases, continual overtime, and skyrocketing stress levels are legendary in the software development industry. Unlike traditional occupations such as accounting or administration, the software business is populated by programmers who are as creative and passionate about their work as musicians or artists. For most, it is a complete surprise when they enter the business world and find that internal politics, inept management, and unrealistic marketing drive the process rather than a structured and orderly approach based on technical issues and quality.
</p>
<p>
<i>The Career Programmer</i> explains how the individual programmer or project manager can work within the existing system to solve deadline problems and regain control of the development process. Care is taken to offer proven, practical, and hands-on solutions that are designed to work when confronted with the political and chaotic realities of the business environment. Issues are addressed from the points of view of both the programmer and project manager, and steps are shown in all perspectives, from large-scale teams down to projects with a single developer. For the individual programmer or project manager, the end results are less overtime, less stress, higher-quality software, and a more satisfying career.
</p>
<p>
<blockquote>"<i>The Career Programmer: Guerilla Tactics for an Imperfect World</i> is a gem of wisdom in a sea of dry, academic books on the software development process."<br>&emdash;Bill "BanzaiBill" Lowry
</blockquote>
</p>
<p>
<blockquote>
"Not only does this remarkable book go over, in gory detail, every one of these issues (and many more), but it does so with an experienced view 'from the trenches' designed to empower us, the lowly developers, with the ammunition and knowledge we need to deal with these issues effectively, to become better software architects for it, and most importantly, to be able to defend our turf and our jobs. "<br>&emdash;Peter Bromberg, eggheadcafe.
Author, musician, veteran programmer, and corporate troublemaker Christopher Duncan is president of Show Programming of Atlanta, Inc. Irreverent, passionate, unconventional, and sometimes controversial, his focus has always been less on the academic and more on simply delivering the goods, breaking any rules that happen to be inconvenient at the moment. He can be reached at Chris@ShowProgramming.com.
