I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge

Fifteen years have passed since I started my career in IT — which is quite some time. I've been playing with computers for 25 years now, which makes me quite knowledgeable about the field, for sure.

However, while I was fully prepared to bargain with computers, I was not prepared to do so with humans. The whole career management thing was unknown to me. I had no useful skills to navigate within the enterprise organization. I had to learn the ropes the hard way, failing along the way. It hurts.

Almost ten years ago, I had the chance to meet a new colleague — Alexis Monville. Alexis was a team facilitator, and I started to work with him on many non-technical levels. He taught me a lot about agility and team organization. Working on this set of new skills changed how I envisioned my work and how I fit into the company.

I worked on those aspects of my job because I decided to be in charge of my career rather than keeping things boring. That was one of the best decisions I ever made. Growing the social aspect of my profession allowed me to develop and find aspiring jobs and missions.

Getting to that point takes a lot of time and effort, and it's pretty hard to do it alone. My friend Alexis wrote an excellent book titled I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge. I'm proud to have been the first reviewer the book before it was released a few weeks ago.

Many developers out there are stuck in a place where they are not excited by their colleagues' work and whose managers do not appropriately recognize their achievement. It would be best for them if they did something about that.

This book is an excellent piece for engineers who wants to break the cycle of frustration. It covers many situations I encountered across my professional life those last years, giving good insights into how to solve them.

To paraphrase Alexis, the answers to your career management problems are not on StackOverflow — they're not technical issues. However, you can still solve them with the right tools. That's where I am a Software Engineer and I am in Charge shines. It gives you leads, solutions, and exercise to get out of this kind of situation. It helps increase your impact and satisfaction at work.

I love this book, and I wish I had access to it years ago. Developing technical leadership is not easy and requires a mindset shift. Having a way to bootstrap yourself with this is a luxury.

If you're a software engineer at the beginning of your career or struggling with your current professional situation, I profoundly recommend reading this book!

You'll get a fast track on your career, for sure.