SE Radio 245: John Sonmez on Marketing Yourself and Managing Your Career

Charles Anderson talks to John Sonmez, the author of Soft Skills—"the software developer's life manual." They start out discussing the book and what it covers, which is pretty much everything in a developer's life outside of code. The book contains seven sections; they discuss two of them: "Career" and "Marketing Yourself." John discusses the value of specializing in your career without being overspecialized. He describes how to "hack the interview process" to either reduce the need for an interview or build a strong relationship before the interview. He then discusses how software developers can market themselves to achieve career goals. His recommendations include blogging, attending user groups, and presenting at conferences. Although most of his recommendations are intended for long-term results, he also discusses what to do in the short term for someone who needs to find a job quickly.