Apprenticeship Patterns

Preface

      He who knows not and knows not that he knows not, is a fool — shun him!
      He who knows not and knows that he knows not, is unlearned — teach him!
      He who knows and knows not that he knows, is asleep — awaken him!
      He who knows and knows that he knows, is enlightened — follow him! 

Arab proverb quoted by Lady Isabel Burton (1831–1896) in The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton

Goals

We have written this book in order to share solutions to the dilemmas that are often faced by inexperienced software developers. We’re not referring to technical dilemmas; you’re not going to find any Java design patterns or Ruby on Rails recipes in this book. Rather, the dilemmas that we focus on are more personal, concerning your motivation and morale. This book should help you through the tough decisions that you face as a newcomer to the field of professional software development.

Audience

This book is written for the person who has had a taste of software development and aspires to become a great software developer. You may be a web developer or a medical device programmer, or you may be building trading applications for a financial institution. Or perhaps you have just graduated from high school or college knowing that software is your future.

Although this book was written for newcomers, more experienced developers will benefit from its content as well. People with several years of experience may find themselves nodding their heads in recognition of dilemmas they’ve already faced, and may come ...