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Rise & Resurrection of the American Programmer
A comprehensive profile of today's software landscape features insightful chapters on such areas as Microsoft, the Internet, the future of embedded systems, and the role of client/server. Original. (All Users)
318 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 12, 2022
Let's be frank: this book is about a fast-moving subject (technology) and, at this point in time, it is very dated.
There are some useful points in here. There are still things that management can learn about managing software developers. Unfortunately, few of these things are actually news, anymore. Most experienced developers could tell you these things without needing to read a book. Most managers, however, aren't asking their software developers. In that regard, maybe reading this book would be a good idea. Because nothing else is going to get the message into their skull.
For example, a lot of the behaviors and attitudes by management will result in their inability to keep qualified people. If you consider your programming team to be "overhead" that needs to be rigidly cost-controlled, watch your better developers head for the doors, leaving you with the less capable, less experienced developers remaining. And if you pointedly outsource and / or offshore significant parts of your information technology functions, realize that the people who will be developing these pieces for you don't care any more about your business than they do for any other short-term contract. And if they don't care, they aren't going to support it. Therefore, if you have IT services that need support, they need to be developed and maintained in-house, by developers who... well... aren't necessarily spoiled but certainly aren't abused.
Good, qualified developers won't tolerate abuse by management; they can always find other work. Less qualified people will put up with it, until such time as they can build their resumes to a point where they can get a "real job" somewhere else. Third- and fourth-string developers, who are lucky to be employed at all, you can abuse the heck out of them and they won't leave. But those aren't the ones you want to keep.
I think the author places to much emphasis on object-oriented programming. I do that. OOP is a powerful thing but it also makes it very easy to get away with bad habits, where maintenance becomes a nightmare. And his thoughts on Java (which I use on a weekly, if not daily, basis) are downright comical in hindsight.
There are some useful points in here. There are still things that management can learn about managing software developers. Unfortunately, few of these things are actually news, anymore. Most experienced developers could tell you these things without needing to read a book. Most managers, however, aren't asking their software developers. In that regard, maybe reading this book would be a good idea. Because nothing else is going to get the message into their skull.
For example, a lot of the behaviors and attitudes by management will result in their inability to keep qualified people. If you consider your programming team to be "overhead" that needs to be rigidly cost-controlled, watch your better developers head for the doors, leaving you with the less capable, less experienced developers remaining. And if you pointedly outsource and / or offshore significant parts of your information technology functions, realize that the people who will be developing these pieces for you don't care any more about your business than they do for any other short-term contract. And if they don't care, they aren't going to support it. Therefore, if you have IT services that need support, they need to be developed and maintained in-house, by developers who... well... aren't necessarily spoiled but certainly aren't abused.
Good, qualified developers won't tolerate abuse by management; they can always find other work. Less qualified people will put up with it, until such time as they can build their resumes to a point where they can get a "real job" somewhere else. Third- and fourth-string developers, who are lucky to be employed at all, you can abuse the heck out of them and they won't leave. But those aren't the ones you want to keep.
I think the author places to much emphasis on object-oriented programming. I do that. OOP is a powerful thing but it also makes it very easy to get away with bad habits, where maintenance becomes a nightmare. And his thoughts on Java (which I use on a weekly, if not daily, basis) are downright comical in hindsight.
March 29, 2013
I had the book for a very long time but only recently managed to read, first 2 parts are very interesting and the java part is fun to read after all the trouble that java has been so far.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews