NFJS COSS 2008 1st Day Wrap Up

It is the morning after the first day of the No Fluff Just Stuff Central Ohio Software Symposium 2008 and I am writing this blog at 6:05 am because I am still so mentally stimulated I could not sleep at all last night so I gave up trying. I hope it does not catch up with me during today's sessions.

I really enjoyed Jared Richardson's, author of Ship It! A Pratical Guide to Successful Software Projects, keynote called Career 2.0. He announced he was writing a book of the same name that he expects to finish in January. In his keynote, he encouraged us to take control of our careers by improving our visibility in the industry. Some of his suggestions for getting started were writing, speaking and contributing to open source. He recommended setting goals but starting with simple steps like writing a blog, giving lunch and learns in your office or contributing documentation to your favorite open source project or maybe one you want to learn more about.

I have to agree with Jared completely. During my exit interview from college with my advisor, I was asked what I wanted to do with my career. I told her I don't know. But I did know there were two things I did not want to do. I did not want to write and I did not want to teach. 12 years, 4 books, several articals, numerous technical classses, many conferences and COJUG presentations I can say that was a very narrow minded view. I have found those are two of my favorite things to do and doing them have opened so many doors including free trips to Europe. I also discovered that contributing and observing open sources has really improved my disipline as a developer. It has allowed me to be exposed to more projects and practices then I could even be exposed to in my consulting practice. It allows me to see more of what works and what doesn't.

I also attended Scott Davis's, author of Groovy Recipes, Blue Pill and Red Pill presentations I had heard so much about from Java One. I was not dissappointed. I think it was a great introduction to Groovy for Java developers.

Does it make sense to write a technical book?

I have been blessed to have co-author and published two technical books, Enterprise Java Development on a Budget and Pro Eclipse JST as well as author a children’s book, Bearable Moments. So, I am often asked by others interested in writing a technical book if it is a good idea to pursue. The answer is it depends on what your goals are. If your goal is to make a lot of money, it is not likely you will unless your book is a runaway bestseller and with all the competition in the market it is tough. In addition, compare to writing articles or tutorials for some web magazines the hourly rate break down just does not make writing a book worth it. The other advantages of writing web magazine articles are they take less time to write so you are not stuck with a single topic for 6 months to a year while technology keeps progressing and you feel like you fall behind, your work is searchable via Google and web magazines typically do not charge readers so it is likely to be read by more people.

However, if your goal is a personal challenge or instant credibility than maybe the grueling late nights could be worth it. Authoring a book can open many new doors and provide access to new clients and interesting people.

Ultimately, I am glad I have had the experience and I really enjoyed working with Apress, my publisher. I wish you good luck if you are planning on writing a computer book.