Sorry for the delay.

You have an abundance of great work. Stellar, really. But let's get deep and picky about it since you wanted the feedback. Please keep in mind that these are just my opinions. I'll do my best to rationalize all of them, but other people may suggest different things, and surely there will be people who disagree with me.


The format
The font and spacing do need some alterations in my opinion. Unless you have over 10 years of achievements, you should always keep your resume to 1 page. The means that you need to be as efficient as possible with the space on that single page. In your current formatting scheme, the left hand side of your resume is awfully blank. You could be using that space to talk more about what's already on there, or to talk about more stuff. Alternatively, on average a recruiter may take about 15-17 seconds to review your resume. So you want the important stuff to be eye catching.

Education
Short and simple. I would like to see your GPA though.

Experience
These sections are always hard because of how you have to sell yourself. Saying "Founder and Sole Developer" feels like it's too redundant. Emphasizing on working alone personally seems distasteful. What confuses me the most about this section is that you phrase everything to be in improvements (which is great under normal circumstances), but with you saying that you're the sole developer, it sounds like you were actually just fixing your own problems. If you have a game publishing platform with that many users, you should have the name of the platform/url to the platform right there. Your second bullet is two sentences, so it shouldn't be one bullet. I personally dislike the wording of "cut by two orders of magnitude". Just use the difference in numbers. It sounds too wordy/distracting that way. The third bullet is again holding two bullets worth of ideas. Remember, you have the emphasize what is skim worthy. Single bullets that are too long (basically more than one line) become less attractive to skim. There should be good justification for something to take up more than one line. Also, I would remove the tidbit about users being from the US. 250 million users is a ton. The demographics are maybe something you bring up in an interview, not on the resume though. I like bullet 4. Bullet 5 doesn't really tell me anything. I understand not mentioning client names or anything, but be more specific about the domains. Bullet 6 also doesn't tell me a whole bunch. Tell me what type of tasks your tools help with. Is it testing? Did you create some plug-in with shortcuts that saves time typing in your e-mail or something? I have no clue. I like the internships. Short, simple, and still descriptive.

Skills
I suggest putting the Skills section last. The reason being that you should be slipping in technologies that you've used throughout the rest of your resume. Having the skills section last is almost like a summary, and a quick reminder of skills that you have. In psychology, the serial position effect states that you're more likely to remember data from the beginning and ending of data sets. So while they might kind of skim over the technologies you mention in the middle of your resume, at least at the end they just get a listing right there, boom. It's a nice refresher of what you can do.
Projects
Re-word the first bullet. Instead of saying "daily/weekly/monthly" just say "scheduled". In bullet two, re-word it to start off with "Saved over 10,000 hours by..." That's a fantastic number to see, so you want it right at the front to make the reader go "oh crap, how'd he do that". I think the 3rd bullet is fine. The chrome extension I would remove. It's a great project, don't get me wrong, but there are many many people who are very weary of malicious security programming projects. I understand that you probably didn't have much mal-intent, but you have to think about your audience. If you're applying to a position where security knowledge is relevant, then that's awesome to have there, but otherwise I'd remove it.
Leadership
So, I don't think you should have this section at all. I believe that your leadership skills should be emphasized elsewhere. I don't think you need an entire section on leadership experience. I would rename the section to like "Additional experience", and remove your bolded bullet headers and treat them like regular bullets. I don't like that all of a sudden, you have a change in how you emphasize things. It isn't consistent to the rest of the resume. The Leading bullet sounds like it should be in your experiences section under a job header. In the second bullet, the 8 awards should be rephrased and moved to your Achievements section. The charity bullet feels long and wordy. The way it is worded makes it very confusing. Did you raise $50,000 total or $50,000 for each cause? I would simply re-word it towards something like "Raised over $50,000 to help towards various international causes". As specific as you want to be in your resume, you also want to balance it with enough information to make people curious, because you'll never be able to perfectly sum up your experiences/history on your resume. You want to have natural transitions into conversation. This would be one of those times to exploit that. That's an awesome achievement, and if I were interviewing you and saw my revision on your resume, I'd engage you to hear more about it. I'd be interested.
Achievements
I would move your first bullet to be in your education section. Also, did you really mean 0.05% or did you mean top 5%? The last bullet is awesome, congrats on 3rd place. That's stellar.

Hopefully you find this useful. Maybe there's something in there that you kind of agree with :P

I suggest you looking at this: http://www.careercup.com/resume
Also, if you want really in-depth information on resumes: The owner of the famous Cracking the Coding Interview, as well as the founder of CareerCup, wrote a book on just that: http://www.amazon.com/The-Google-Resume-Prepare-Microsoft/dp/0470927623

I've posted this before but I'll repost it here:

Now in terms of the question that you ask in the title - this is what I recommend:

Job Interview Prep

1. Cracking the Coding Interview: 189 Programming Questions and Solutions
   
2. Programming Interviews Exposed: Coding Your Way Through the Interview
   
3. Introduction to Algorithms
   
4. The Algorithm Design Manual
   
5. Effective Java
   
6. Concurrent Programming in Java™: Design Principles and Pattern
   
7. Modern Operating Systems
   
8. Programming Pearls
   
9. Discrete Mathematics for Computer Scientists
   
   

   Junior Software Engineer Reading List
   

   
   

   Read This First
   

   
   

10. Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware
    
    

    Fundementals
    

    
    

11. Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
    
12. Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art
    
13. Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach
    
14. Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
    
15. Coder to Developer: Tools and Strategies for Delivering Your Software
    
16. Perfect Software: And Other Illusions about Testing
    
17. Getting Real: The Smarter, Faster, Easier Way to Build a Successful Web Application
    
    

    Understanding Professional Software Environments
    

    
    

18. Agile Software Development: The Cooperative Game
    
19. Software Project Survival Guide
    
20. The Best Software Writing I: Selected and Introduced by Joel Spolsky
    
21. Debugging the Development Process: Practical Strategies for Staying Focused, Hitting Ship Dates, and Building Solid Teams
    
22. Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules
    
23. Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams
    
    

    Mentality
    

    
    

24. Slack: Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency
    
25. Against Method
    
26. The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development
    
    

    History
    

    
    

27. The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering
    
28. Computing Calamities: Lessons Learned from Products, Projects, and Companies That Failed
    
29. The Deadline: A Novel About Project Management
    
    

    Mid Level Software Engineer Reading List
    

    
    

    Read This First
    

    
    

30. Personal Development for Smart People: The Conscious Pursuit of Personal Growth
    
    

    Fundementals
    

    
    

31. The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers
    
32. Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
    
33. Solid Code
    
34. Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code
    
35. Software Craftsmanship: The New Imperative
    
36. Writing Solid Code
    
    

    Software Design
    

    
    

37. Head First Design Patterns: A Brain-Friendly Guide
    
38. Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
    
39. Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software
    
40. Domain-Driven Design Distilled
    
41. Design Patterns Explained: A New Perspective on Object-Oriented Design
    
42. Design Patterns in C# - Even though this is specific to C# the pattern can be used in any OO language.
    
43. Refactoring to Patterns
    
    

    Software Engineering Skill Sets
    

    
    

44. Building Microservices: Designing Fine-Grained Systems
    
45. Software Factories: Assembling Applications with Patterns, Models, Frameworks, and Tools
    
46. NoEstimates: How To Measure Project Progress Without Estimating
    
47. Object-Oriented Software Construction
    
48. The Art of Software Testing
    
49. Release It!: Design and Deploy Production-Ready Software
    
50. Working Effectively with Legacy Code
    
51. Test Driven Development: By Example
    
    

    Databases
    

    
    

52. Database System Concepts
    
53. Database Management Systems
    
54. Foundation for Object / Relational Databases: The Third Manifesto
    
55. Refactoring Databases: Evolutionary Database Design
    
56. Data Access Patterns: Database Interactions in Object-Oriented Applications
    
    

    User Experience
    

    
    

57. Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
    
58. The Design of Everyday Things
    
59. Programming Collective Intelligence: Building Smart Web 2.0 Applications
    
60. User Interface Design for Programmers
    
61. GUI Bloopers 2.0: Common User Interface Design Don'ts and Dos
    
    

    Mentality
    

    
    

62. The Productive Programmer
    
63. Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change
    
64. Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming
    
65. Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering
    
    

    History
    

    
    

66. Dreaming in Code: Two Dozen Programmers, Three Years, 4,732 Bugs, and One Quest for Transcendent Software
    
67. New Turning Omnibus: 66 Excursions in Computer Science
    
68. Hacker's Delight
    
69. The Alchemist
    
70. Masterminds of Programming: Conversations with the Creators of Major Programming Languages
    
71. The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood
    
    

    Specialist Skills
    

    
    In spite of the fact that many of these won't apply to your specific job I still recommend reading them for the insight, they'll give you into programming language and technology design.
    
    

72. Peter Norton's Assembly Language Book for the IBM PC
    
73. Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets
    
74. Enough Rope to Shoot Yourself in the Foot: Rules for C and C++ Programming
    
75. The C++ Programming Language
    
76. Effective C++: 55 Specific Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs
    
77. More Effective C++: 35 New Ways to Improve Your Programs and Designs
    
78. More Effective C#: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C#
    
79. CLR via C#
    
80. Mr. Bunny's Big Cup o' Java
    
81. Thinking in Java
    
82. JUnit in Action
    
83. Functional Programming in Scala
    
84. The Art of Prolog: Advanced Programming Techniques
    
85. The Craft of Prolog
    
86. Programming Perl: Unmatched Power for Text Processing and Scripting
    
87. Dive into Python 3
    
88. why's (poignant) guide to Ruby

I agree with your advice SolidCopper.

How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling

How to Win Friends and Influence People

What about a part-time job?

What about offering to work for free just for the opportunity to learn something new with someone around town?

Learn legal research?

Get a dog?

Start a business?

Learn to grow cannabis? I'm not saying to illegally grow it. I'm saying that you can read and learn, and that there is a market for skilled growers catering to the medical cannabis sector, especially, for example, those that suffer from epilepsy and want to try high CBD strains. So you could study up on all this, and then apply what you have learned after you graduate and have a good career helping others.

Prepare for the ASVAB and go to the Navy's Nuclear School?

Go outside and run.

Let books be your friends.

What I learned was that the folks that I thought were true friends in high school were not.

Spend your time on self-improvement.

Learn new things.

Learn new skills.

PT. Exercise.

Learn. Read. Read. Read. Read.

"When you sell a man a book you don't sell just twelve ounces of paper and the ink and glue - you sell him a whole new life. Love and friendship and humour and ships at sea by night - there's all heaven and earth in a good book."--Christopher Morley

"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends, they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers."--Charles W. Eliot

"In a library we are surrounded by many hundreds of dear friends imprisoned by an enchanter in paper and leathern boxes."--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Reading early in life gives a youngster a multitude of 'friends' to guide intellectual and emotional growth."--Carroll D. Gray

"A book that [is] fitly chosen is a life long friend."--Douglas Jerrold

"Literature is my utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends."--Helen Keller

"Outside of a dog, a book is probably man's best friend, and inside a dog, it's too dark to read."--Groucho Marx

If I could be a senior in high school again, in good health...and know what I know now...I would seek out older men and women. I would ask for their advice. I would read and learn.

I graduated as high school valedictorian and had 7 high school superlatives. Once you're out of high school, this "friend" stuff in high school, it's not the same.

Ricky Gervais writes: "... I suppose I was cursed with some early success. I was smart. The smartest kid in my class. Then the smartest kid in the next class and so on. I actually used to pride myself on the fact that I didn't have to even try to pass exams. This is my greatest regret. It's a
disgusting attitude and potentially a waste of a life. Writing and directing "The Office" was the first thing I ever tried my hardest at. The reward was revelatory.

At 40 I was addicted. Not to success. I was addicted to trying my hardest. That's the reward in itself. It's what life's about. The struggle. It's the only way you can be proud. You can't be proud of
luck.

Born clever? So what? What are you going to do with it? Your best, I hope, and no less."

They seem a like reasonable starting point I think. Repetition is the mother of mastery, the more books the better (in addition to applying what is learned).

Since Mosh is calling out learning fundamentals as important to becoming a good C# developers, I would personally also recommend some general (non C# specific books) too for who are starting out in software development:

1. Design Patterns (Amazon) - also known as the "Gang of Four" Design Patterns, it was originally published in 1994 and is still relevant today. When people talk about design patterns, they're referring to the book more often then not.
   
   
2. Soft Skills (Amazon) - Not a book on programming actually... it's a software developers life manual. The reason I like this book is it covers the other parts of the life of a developer that I haven't seen covered anywhere else. Everything from learning strategies, time management, career advice, and even some health and fitness. It was an enjoyable read and I think other developers would enjoy it too.
   
   
3. The Passionate Programmer (Amazon) It's been a while since I've read this one, but I remember it giving decent advice for building a career in software development. Not to be confused with The Pragmatic Programmer (Amazon) which should be read at some point too.
   
   There's a ton more, but those are a few that stood out to me. Essentially the more the merrier in my opinion - books, courses, videos, tutorials, and so on. The books I'm recommending here focus on adopting the developer mindset and being successful at it. That's part of the puzzle.
   
   The other part is understanding the technical details including the programming language and frameworks you intend to use.
   
   And finally, for learning about C#, I do highly recommend Mosh's videos/courses (some are free on YouTube, others available on Udemy). He's got a unique ability to explain things clearly and simply in a way that beginners can pick up quickly.
   
   What I'd do is check out his free content first, and if you agree his style is ideal for learning, an investment in one of his courses is well worth it since he'll cover a lot more breadth and depth on each of the topics and they're organized into a super consumable package rather than scouring the internet for various topics.
   

The neat thing about knowing you have EDS as a young person is that you have the knowledge and opportunity to start protecting and taking extra good care of your body now. Preventing injuries and protecting your joints may go a long way towards preventing pain later.

Do you have a doctor to offer you any guidance? In either case, you might check out The Joint Hypermobility Handbook, a handy guide by one of the big EDS experts that covers basically everything you need to know, in a format that works for both doctors and patients. As someone else mentioned, /r/ehlersdanlos is a great resource, as is Ehlers Danlos Athletes on FB. Outside of those groups, reading about EDS online can get scary fast, so do know that there are plenty of people living well with EDS - they're just not the ones who tend to dominate the forums.

The best advice I've gotten for managing my EDS-III is to stay in shape. And don't wait to see someone about problem joints! Deconditioning can happen pretty quickly, so finding ways to exercise despite any random injury has been super important. A sprained knee can make it hard to exercise, but not exercising quickly leads to other injuries as I get weaker, and then things get scary fast and it is long, hard fight to get back to "normal." The real key for me has been finding a form of exercise that I enjoy, and then finding a PT that will help me with remedial exercises, adaptations, taping, bracing, etc. to better support my body in those activities. If you don't have pain, PT may not be necessary, but you might also consider going in for an evaluation to alleviate your concerns and get ahead of any particularly unstable or cranky joints; they could also help you set up an exercise plan if you don't already have one.

My PT is also big on "joint protection," which seems to be a think that pops up on a lot of arthritis sites, but it also seems like solid advice for any body. Try Googling it or here's a short guide that seems to sum it up pretty well.

tl;dr: stay strong, enjoy life, and hopefully you'll continue to feel pretty OK. :)

Congratulations! That's a big step. Be proud that you were able to make the switch. Not many people manage to transform ideas into results.

I think there are four areas on which you need to focus, in order to go from mediocre to great. Those areas are:

1. Theoretical foundation.
   
2. Working knowledge.
   
3. Software engineering practices.
   
4. Soft skills.
   
   Now, these areas don't include things like marketing yourself or building valuable relationships with coworkers or your local programming community. I see those as being separate from being great at what you do. However, they're at least as influential in creating a successful and long-lasting career.
   
   Let's take a look at what you can do to improve yourself in those four areas. I'll also suggest some resources.
   
   ​
   
   1. Theoretical foundation
   
   Foundational computer science. Most developers without a formal degree have some knowledge gaps here. I suggest taking a MOOC to remediate this. After that, you could potentially take a look at improving your data structures and algorithms knowledge.
   
   

• CS50: Introduction to Computer Science
  
• Grokking Algorithms
  
• Algorithms by Sedgewick
  
  ​
  
  2. Working knowledge.
  
  I'd suggest doing a JavaScript deep-dive before focusing on your stack. I prefer screencasts and video courses for this, but there are also plenty of books available. After that, focus on the specific frameworks that you're using. While you're doing front-end work, I also suggest you to explore the back-end.
  
  ​
  
  
• FunFunFunction on Youtube
  
• You Don't Know JS
  
• JavaScript Allonge
  
• JavaScript Design Patterns ​
  
  3. Software engineering practices.
  
  Design patterns and development methodologies. Read up about testing, agile, XP, and other things about how good software is developed. You could do this by reading the 'Big Books' in software, like Code Complete 2 or the Pragmatic Programmer, in your downtime. Or, if you can't be bothered, just read different blog posts/Wikipedia articles.
  
  ​
  
  4. Soft skills.
  
  

1. Actively seek to mentor and teach others (perhaps an intern at work, or someone at a local tech community, or create blog posts or videos online).
   
2. Get mentorship and learn from others. Could be at work, or open source.
   
3. Go to programming meetups.
   
4. Try public speaking, go to a Toast Masters meetup.
   
5. Learn more about and practice effective communication.
   
6. Learn more about business and the domain that you're working in at your company.
   
7. Read Soft Skills or Passionate Programmer for more tips.
   
   ​
   
   Some closing notes:
   
   - For your 'how to get started with open source' question, see FirstTimersOnly.
   
   - If you can't be bothered to read or do large online courses, or just want a structured path to follow, subscribe to FrontendMasters and go through their 'Learning Paths'.
   
   - 4, combined with building relationships and marketing yourself, is what will truly differentiate you from a lot of other programmers.
   
   ​
   
   Sorry for the long post, and good luck! :)

My suggestion: https://www.amazon.com/Start-Home-based-Detailing-Business-Home-Based/dp/0762778768

There isn't anything "ground breaking" here but it will set you mentality in the direction of doing it.

Real friends won't let you work for free, and they damn well will not ask you to do stuff free. Now if you need to build a portfolio, there is an exception, your fee is in advertising/marketing material. But you really only need a few vehicles before you should stop this. Don't work free, free will attract things you don't want. I started out setting a high expectation with my costs. My cheapest packages attracted a customer base I didn't want. I very quickly dropped my cheapest interior and also exterior details, only leaving the packaged deal which I don't sell to at all. It literally exists for a quick detail for well maintained vehicles. My prices push away customers, and I am simply not bothered by this. Odds are they are not the customers I want to build my customer base on. Sure maybe I miss out occasionally, but I suspect I've been better off with my starting at prices creating a "price gate" than not. Honestly from some descriptions, the cost would have been doubled and they didn't even want to pay the starting price. I know my worth and I am going to get my worth, or I won't take the job. I also am closing down 1 business(covered my first year of transition) with money saved and a side value from that business that should cover year 2 and 3 easily. With my savings, good chance I could go 5 years without seeing a profit, though if the latest indicators say anything, I am not even remotely worried about this. 0 marketing and business is gaining momentum unexpectedly. But seriously, this is a luxury service, charge accordingly. I am not here to wash cars, I am here to detail, there is a difference.


I will tell you now that this approach will take a slower growth rate, but it is generally a solid growth rate. From a lot of people I've talked to, after a year or two things just beginning snowballing, I've already gotten a little taste of this this month, and I just started my 2nd year of business. (Though in Ohio, winter isn't much for business...)

Hey man, I was close to a situation like you were once. I am a recent graduate as well, and some employment opportunities did not work out for me as well.

The way I solved it was couch surfing and living in a place where I was sharing a room with two other people. I know that is not ideal, and I don't know your situation but that is something you can look into. Also, is there a possibility to go back to your parents place?

There is no shame with that because everyone needs to have a good platform to excel. But in general, I would say is just to stay strong, it will get better.

In terms of your employment, I have a recommendation for you. You should get this book and read it. If you don't read you should start, it is a great habit to get into and helped me out
(it also helped my focus and I gained more discipline) https://www.amazon.com/2-Hour-Job-Search-Technology-Faster/dp/1607741709

I know the title seems gimmicky but it did really help me strategize my job hunt and got my current job today.

If money is an issue send me your address and I will buy it for you. It really helped me out and I want to pass on the joy.

Good luck my man. Stay Strong.

Congrats! If you feel like you're up for a challenge then I'd say go for it as long as you feel like you've got a good support structure in and out of the company. To answer your question, my transition was somewhat mentored by my old boss followed by an abrupt changeout of new-boss-for-newer boss. If I could do anything differently from that time period, it would've been to force the issue of getting performance metrics on my own terms rather than waiting for someone to tell me what my team's metrics would be.

In case any of these might help I'll offer a couple quick considerations/suggestions:

1. Find out who you're accountable to (which keep in mind, that probably won't be just your boss) and what they define as success. When that definition is vague or unrealistic, help them come to a definition that's specific and attainable. But either way, reach out to them. Meet with them on a regular basis. If they say they don't want to do a standing meeting then set a weekly or monthly or quarterly reminder (depending on how things are going) to reach out to them.
   
2. Depending on the structure and the size of the team, it's important to identify if you're managing individual contributors or if you're managing managers. The two are very different animals; I'd normally expect a director position to be mostly the latter but companies vary.
   
3. I can't recommend reading The First 90 Days enough. It was written for people like us.
   
4. Chances are, you have in your head a handful of experiences that have struck you as good technology leadership and a handful that are not-so-good. Succinctly capture your takeaways from those; those help to define your core principles and it's important not to lose sight of them.
   
5. Don't be bashful about asking what your predecessor did well and what (s)he could have done better. Ask that of your superiors, your peers, and the people on your team.
   
6. Very early on, find out not only what procedures are documented (and how up-to-date they are) but especially find out what kind of emergency response procedures exist. If they don't, get a basic one together asap and do a test activation of it. An emergency will definitely happen during your first year; you have no control over that. What you can control is the degree to which you and your team are prepared to respond to it. Few statements are more reassuring coming from someone in your position than "Okay guys, bad thing X happened and it's going to be a rough day at the office. But we have a plan for responding to it and it's time for us to execute that plan. Let's go to work."
   
7. Most importantly: chances are you're a dependable engineer and the people you've worked for have come to trust you as their go-to guy or gal. You need one of those. Several if possible, for different facets of the team's operations.
   
   Best of luck!

First of all: big hug to you.

I know this feeling so well. Remember that this is normal, and that you're not the only one. It's not like the rest of us feel on top of the world 24/7 and that we know it all.

Second of all: Codewars kind of sucks. I love the idea and I've used it a lot, but if you're only half as good at Python as some of those people are at writing the instructions, you're good to go. Jokes aside, I think it's good for practicing algorithms and "weird" parts of the language (like list comprehension), but it's not the most efficient way to actually get better at real life problems. Being good at programming also includes breaking down large tasks into smaller ones, knowing which library to use, knowing how to structure your program, etc. You don't get that from Codewars. This is just my opinion.

When I was in that rut what helped me was reading Apprenticeship Patterns (O'Reilly), which gave me some good tips on how to keep going. Other things that helped:

• Write down what kind of skills you want. Do you want to visualise data? Do you want to make games? Do you actually just want to know every algorithm by heart and be "that person"?
  
• Create a roadmap for obtaining these skills. How do you get there? Which libraries do you need to know? What do you already know?
  
• Expose your ignorance. This is never fun, but very important. What do you suck at? Write a small list of five things you just "didn't quite get" but you see pop up everywhere.
  
• Write a list of five things you'd like to learn. Then sit down and study them + your previous list until you understand. Check them off your list and add new ones. That way you'll also see how far you've come and all the things you know now but didn't know yesterday.
  
• Code. Create projects and build them and fail them and try again. This is the best way to learn. Here's a little list of projects you can try.
  
  Again, what you're feeling is very common. Learning programming is hard, and doing it alone without a community is even harder. Thumbs up to you for reaching out here. Hope you'll feel better and more confident soon!

You're getting great advice on surviving school, so I'll try to address "joining the workforce":

• Read this book. I can't tell you how much I wish it was around when I was getting my degree. It gives you a straightforward blueprint for what you should be doing in school. It's written by an awesome woman and it's spot on in every respect. The sister book "Cracking the Coding Interview" is amazing too when you get to interviewing for internships/jobs.
  
• Software is maybe less credential driven and more "meritocratic" than many fields, but software companies are looking for a story of success just like anyone else. High GPA is very helpful, extracurricular leadership is very helpful, etc. The book says all this I guess. But nothing matters more IMO than:
  
• Personal projects. Start building webapps, write a tech-focused blog, get a GitHub account, get involved with an open source project, whatever floats your boat. Work on tech outside of your coursework and make it something you can link on your resume. Start right now.
  
• Start getting internships as early as possible. Schools will generally tell you to wait till you've finished your sophomore year, but get one the summer of your freshman if you can swing it. If not an actual internship, at least something tech related. Tech internships usually pay really well too.
  
• You might think you are not good enough/experienced enough to write a blog, make a webapp, contribute to an open source project, get an internship. This is not true. a) The only way to get good at something is by doing it and feeling like you suck at it b) doing anything at all - no matter how crap it seems to you - will put you ahead of 90% of your classmates.
  
• There are a lot of shithead alpha-nerds making hiring decisions but there are also a lot of enlightened, woman/queer friendly people and places. I had a great experience interviewing for an internship at Google and I've heard good things about Facebook and Microsoft interviews. Smaller places are a mixed bag. Don't get discouraged, there are great places out there.
  
• Stick with it.

I think we may be looking for the same things. I read a book a few weeks ago called Pragmatic Thinking and Learning that I found really helpful and interesting. Its not too expensive and if you have the money I'd recommend it. Don't be intimidated by the programmer talk, none of it is really relevant.

Last week, I discovered a wiki that gave great advice on learning and memory techniques that seemed like it would have been extremely useful. I've spent the last hour searching for it but I just can't find it. When I come across it, I will let you know.

Another book that I found useful a few months ago was How to Read a Book. Don't let the title undermine the books value; its an awesome book. Definitely worth looking into. I don't follow the advice given in the book very rigidly, but since I've read it, I've found that I approach books much more methodically and absorb the information much more easily.

Its great to see that there is someone else out there looking for the same sort of resources I'm looking for. The way I look at it, learning is a skill that can be developed and mastered. It is an interesting pursuit in and of itself.

I haven't found any single resource for this sort of thing but maybe we can put together a subreddit where we can pool our resources for things that may be particularly helpful.

Couple things then. First of all, the market is absolute garbage. That will affect you both as a solo practitioner and as an attorney. Secondly, you will not be able to practice until the bar results come back in October.

In the interim, buy this book first and consider other similar books after that. That book is simply the bible to running your own solo practice. You can find it on half.com and sometimes eBay for cheaper so look around. I think I paid $25.00 for my copy and it was worth triple that in returns on investment.

Keep applying for jobs. I cannot emphasize this enough. The best thing you can do is spend a week thinking of exactly the area(s) of law that interest you the most, tailor a resume to each of those areas and then write a cover letter for each of those areas. Make 2-3 short paragraphs about why you love that area and what experience(s) you have in that area of law. The topmost paragraph will be directed specifically to the firm/company you send it to.

If you did not go to a tier one law school or clerk for a federal judge avoid BCG Attorney Search, LawCrossing, GCC consulting, or basically any other consulting company who posts a job. They cannot help you and operate as a resume farm. You are far better off, sending cold resumes to law firms. Check, double check and triple check your spelling, sentence structure and length of both your resume and your cover letter. The resume you send will be bounced immediately by HR or the partner if you do not.

I found much more success with sending cold resumes than email. Emails get deleted, snail mail gets put in a pile or at least looked at. If you know the practice area you want to be in and there is a partner who runs that division, even at a small firm, if you address it to his/her attention it will be read. I cannot say that it will get you an interview or even a call but half the time you will at least get a letter back. Those rejection letters feel much better than wondering why you aren't hearing anything from anyone.

Now then, back to solo practice. It sucks. I mean it is really difficult both on your pocketbook, your ego and your pride. I am not sure where you are living but you want to go outside of the major cities if you want to start your practice imho. The reason for this is that the bar size shrinks considerably and the competition isn't quite so vicious. Depending on what areas you want to focus on, you can often find a few older attorneys willing to help you out and kick you a few cases if you are willing to give them back a referral fee (check your state rules) and do some cases they don't like/don't have time for. You will only succeed if you work your ass off and have a good reputation as an attorney. You MUST be a decent businessman to be a successful solo attorney. You can be a superstar in the courtroom, a legend of transactional work and still close up shop in under a year if you fail to bill clients, for the right amount, at the right times and continue to generate new business. This is the tightrope walk of the first few years and this will make or break you as an attorney.

This is not to say that you will not have time for a social life, but imagine if first year grades were the difference between eating and not eating and you can see why the solo practitioner is under more pressure than his big law friends. No one will be telling you what to do, when to do it, how to do it right. You will screw up a few (hopefully minor) things but the best advice I can give you is these few tips:

• You will not become rich as a solo practitioner. If done correctly, you will be paying your bills the first few years and get a little extra to invest internally on the side. Marketing will eat 25% of your operating budget and will be the hardest part because ROI (return on investment) is so hard to track until you really get a few years in.
  
• Do not hire anyone until you absolutely have needed to do so for a few years. This will bankrupt you when it gets slow. You will know when the time is right.
  
• Never, ever, ever, start a practice as two young attorneys and think that you are "Partners". It simply is the legal equivalent of giving yourself a handicap. There probably are not enough cases for both of you to be doing and it will result in fights and other problems. Keep this in mind because those special titles you give yourself are hollow. You are just two young attorneys who share office space. Keep it that way and de-link your names. Check your local rules on advertising.
  
• Buy things before you need them and probably in bulk (Costco, Sams Club) whenever possible. This is your normal office supplies, think toner, ink, paper, folders, etc. Those are things you will always use but do not go too crazy. As for office furniture, go on Craigslist or get some scratch and dent at the office surplus places around you. NEVER pay for the furniture at full price, unless you are already loaded but even then a fool and his money...
  
• Look for an office space with other solo practioners. Ask around and someone will know someone with an empty office in their building. These are usually around the courthouse in more rural areas but can be anywhere if you are in the city. You will be grateful for the advice you can get and if they have overflow or cases they don't do you can pick a few up with a modest referral fee (again check NY rules).
  
• Join your local bar association, get involved in the committee you practice in and attend any social events. This is where you make connections and get help the fastest. Attorneys in smaller areas want to talk about themselves and help you out in the process. Take advantage of the Lawyer Referral Service. Do be careful/wary of any advice given to you though and talk with other attorneys about the reputation the person giving you the advice has. Sometimes really friendly attorneys are bad attorneys and you don't want to misfile something because of bad advice.
  
• Lastly, never take any work for which you are not getting paid unless it is pro bono and you have the time/money to cover it. This also goes for getting underpaid. You can starve because you spend all day giving free advice to people who call you. No money, no call back. Make sure you understand this above all else. Also make sure you send non-representation letters, etc. according to the rules.
  
  Hope this helps and GO STUDY FOR THE BAR There will be plenty of time after the bar to worry about what you are going to do with that newly minted license but you first need to take the test. Good luck and let me know if you need anything else.
  
  Just to cover the bases, you should already know that this is not legal advice and do not follow it as such. As a JD I am pretty sure you already know this but since this is a reply I didn't want anyone to think that this was intended as such.

Working in Legacy one of the areas you can make an impact on a system. Bar none. You can pretty much refactor until your hearts content, you can make wrappers to old calls in new fancy ways, cook up solutions to problems you've identified and present these to your colleagues. Because that's what good developers do..

It's rare you get to work on exactly what you want to all the time in this game.

So what are your alternatives now?

To be honest I do think you have made a mistake. But an important one. If you learn from it, then that's all good and you shouldn't worry about it.

Sometimes you'll learn people don't know why things are a good idea or a better option... you've got to steer them and let them think it's them that's making the decision on something great, when really, that was your plan all along.

You know where you get the real money and make the real difference in our game? Working at either end of the spectrum. Either bleeding edge, or with tech so old no one else wants to touch it. If you want the middle ground, the easy predictable stuff then be prepared to not be making much of a difference in your day to day duties. It's just the way the game works.

Suggested reading; The Passionate Programmer;http://www.amazon.com/The-Passionate-Programmer-Remarkable-Development/dp/1934356344

Apprenticeship Patterns; http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1234000001813/index.html

Best thing to do is put a period in it and move on.
Good luck!

Never lie. That said I have been "unqualified/underqualified" for every position I have held if you look at measures like years of experience. This isn't a deal breaker. Put yourself in the hiring managers shoes. If you want to have a team that is working on bleeding edge technology and projects you have to make some compromises on experience. Particularly if you don't have a enormous budget to throw around. The critical things I look for are below.

Smart - I deal with complex problems everyday. A requirement for working with my team is that you can keep up.
Passion - Am I hiring someone who is passionate about the work and role. Do you work with this stuff in the spare time or just for a paycheck.
Ambition - If their is a gap in skills is the applicant going to work hard to fill the gap as quickly as possible. Would you read books and do research to learn the concepts.
Attitude - Are they a good fit for the team. Can I explain what needs to be done and count on you to solve problems and proactively tell if you are struggling.

Look for smaller companies where you will have the opportunity to wear as many hats as possible. The pay will be lower but your playing a long game with your career :) get the experience and find out which hat you like best.

Here is are two great books on the topic.

https://www.amazon.com/Smart-Gets-Things-Done-Technical/dp/1590598385

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1119087252/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1484396909&sr=8-6&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=stretch+book

Good luck!

Oh and when you land that next position. This book will help get you off on the right foot.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1422188612/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1484397012&sr=8-1&pi=SL75_QL70&keywords=first+ninety+days

Forget about stopping gaming for a second. Lift! Start going to the gym and have that in your life besides whatever else is happening. Once you establish that as a habit, you can re-assess your other habits.

More importantly, check your diet, what you put in you is going to determine who & what you are to a large extent. Don't try to go too crazy though because complicating things tends to lead to no results. Stick to eating enough meat, low amount of carbs (some sweet potatoes / brown rice, for dinner), and a good amount of veggies (tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, broccoli, pickled beets, lettuce; mix and match from time to time, I don't mean have all of them in one meal). Whatever you do, you MUST abandon sugary drinks (diet cokes and the like are ok in moderation tho).

Here's a common day's meals template that's dead simple and good for you (and which I eat at least 3 days a week): lunch (bacon, eggs, cottage cheese w/ a splash of light soy sauce, some tomatoes), dinner (chicken thighs & sweet potatoes - oven baked; salad [tomato + cucumber + lettuce + splash of olive oil & vinegar], for drinks just some black tea with a teaspoon of honey in each and water.

Do that, and you'll be on your way to a great life for yourself, I promise. It's also very, very important to have patience. Right now you're probably wanting results fast and won't have the tolerance for putting in the effort required to steer the ship in a new direction. Have the perspective of life's length. You have many, many years to live still and you can enjoy those immensely but it requires you to keep them in mind when after a few weeks of effort you're not seeing the amount of progress you want and will want to revert back to old habits. Believe in the process & don't judge it too soon, it will take months just to get used to it, and then more months to really get the results you fantasise about. That's life, and it won't be any different for anything else - accept it. The sooner, the better. And whatever you do, don't think about it in big steps, but rather small steps. Think about the next hour and the next small tasks, ignore the macro for a second because that can set you back. It's going to be much easier to do it that way. e.g. if you had to lose weight don't think about the amount you have to lose in total, but rather focus on doing things right on that day, or even better - for the next meal, and take it like that, one meal at a time and ignore the bigger picture.

Only after you have diet and exercise under control even think about anything else. Any other "self-improvement" is a distraction until then and wholly unnecessary - even a detriment. Focus only on these two things for now.

Lastly, a great book I'd highly recommend you read to help you better with tactics for your journey is "How to fail at almost everything and still win big" by Scott Adams. It can do a lot for your thinking and will be immensely helpful.

Keep it simple:

1. Gym
   
2. Diet
   
   That's it, and read the book. Everything else will come after that.

And I have these in my list on amazon. Would love to get some opinions on them:

 

How to Win Friends and Influence People

by Dale Carnegie

 

Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More

by Robert Bly

 

Words that Sell

by Richard Bayan

 

Tested Advertising Methods

by Caples and Hahn

 

Writing That Works

by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson

 

Confessions of an Advertising Man

by David Ogilvy

 

The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing

by Al Ries and Jack Trout

 

The Robert Collier Letter Book

by Robert Collier

 

Nicely Said: Writing for the Web with Style and Purpose

by Nicole Fenton and Kate Kiefer Lee

 

Letting Go of the Words

by Janice (Ginny) Redish

 

Essential English for Journalists, Editors and Writers

by Harold Evans

 

Can I Change Your Mind?: The Craft and Art of Persuasive Writing

by Lindsay Camp

 

Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer

by Roy Peter Clark

 

Read Me: 10 Lessons for Writing Great Copy

by Roger Horberry and Gyles Lingwood

 

Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads

by Luke Sullivan

 

WRITE IN STEPS: The super simple book writing method

by Ian Stables

 

On Writing Well

by William Zinsser

 

The Wealthy Freelancer

by Steve Slaunwhite, Pete Savage and Ed Gandia

 

Write Everything Right!

by Denny Hatch

 

The Secret of Selling Anything

by Harry Browne

 

The Marketing Gurus: Lessons from the Best Marketing Books of All Time

by Chris Murray

 

On Writing

by Stephen King

 

Writing for the Web

by Lynda Felder

 

Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content

by Ann Handley

 

This book will teach you how to write better

by Neville Medhora

Is it possible to make a life out of traveling and WWOOFing? Yes.

Is college that important? It depends what is important to you. Are you interested in a field where you need further education that you couldn't get with "real life" experience, such as engineering, technology, medical, and so forth? Are your parents totally set on you going to college? If yes, would you be okay with their disappointment?

My story:
I had been attending a small, private university for a year. I was in a major that doesn't give one hopes of a high income career and realized I would spend many years of my life after graduating in debt. I had always wanted to travel for an extended period of time and decided to do it. My parents were very supportive of my plan; my mom was scared (I'm female) and my dad was jealous as he wanted to travel when he was younger but did not.

I found this book and spent a year saving up about $2,000 (USD). I would of saved more but I had my own apartment at the time. I spent the next four years traveling in Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Hawai'i, and various parts of the American bible belt. I WWOOFed, work-traded at hostels and music festivals, worked at a banana farm, worked at restaurants and much more.

I've since settled into a beautiful city and have been here for two years. I have a great garden, from all that WWOOFing experience. :) I still have the desire to travel but I think it'll mostly be visiting the farms and people I've already have connections with.

I learned way more about the world, myself and how to be a good person during my travels then I believe I would have in university.

For the question of what makes cities rich and poor there a huge number of possible answers including human capital, infrastructure, luck (take Seattle as an example, it got a big technology industry pretty much by luck because Bill Gates moved Microsoft there from Albuquerque because it was his home area and then the forces of urban economics does the rest), resources, etc.

I'd recommend reading these books: Keys to the City by Michael Storper (he was my lecturer, he's a professor at LSE, UCLA and Sciences Po) and The New Geography of Jobs by Enrico Moretti. Even just the introductions provide a good insight.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Geography-Jobs-Enrico-Moretti/dp/0544028058http://www.amazon.co.uk/Keys-City-Institutions-Interaction-Development/dp/0691143110/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451394581&sr=8-1&keywords=keys+to+the+city

To get an insight into what our economy makes and then sells, and it buys from abroad, and from where, this is a good website. Bear in mind it's looking at goods - the UK sells quite a lot of services abroad too. http://atlas.media.mit.edu/en/visualize/tree_map/hs92/export/gbr/all/show/2013/

In a nutshell the UK is good at services (financial services, consulting (of all types not just management or strategy), advertising, law etc.), pharmaceuticals, high tech engineering (aerospace stuff, ARM in Cambridge for example and other IT, car production)

Good article about growth and decline of a city here too http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/03/29/the-churn

The economy section of the ONS website also contains a lot of information about which sectors are big, how many people work in them, their growth and contribution to the economy, regional growth and contribution to UK overall too, and so on. House of Commons Library and Bank of England are good too.

Congratulations on striking out on your own!

Pick up a copy of Jay Foonberg's How to Start and Build a Law Practice. Foonberg's old and some of the information is outdated, but it's a pretty big book with a wealth of info for new solos. There's also Carolyn Elefant's Solo by Choice, and blogs such as Elefant's My Shingle, Lawyerist, and /u/KeithRLee's Associate's Mind.

I think standard advice for new solos is that networking is king. Your best business as a new solo comes from referrals from other attorneys. Build relationships early. Also, make connections with strong mentors in every area you practice in, especially if you have limited experience in that practice area.

If you haven't made an office-space decision yet, read up on the benefits/downsides of virtual offices (i.e. working out of home and meeting clients in Starbucks) or of office sharing (you don't have to partner up with another lawyer; just rent an underused corner of a larger office to save on rent).

Also, join/post on /r/lawyers. It gets more traffic than /r/lawfirm.

Buy the book Smart and Gets things Done. It's a really good read with some solid advice. The title says it all, you want someone is smart, but also pragmatic enough to get things done. A smart person who re-invents the wheel with every project or switches frameworks regularly is probably going to end up being trouble.

I interview a lot and here's a few things I've learned:

• Always ask the same technical questions. If you vary the questions it's hard to get a good gauge of who did better, especially in situations where you like several candidates for one role.
  
  
• Ask an easy technical question, like stupidly easy that anyone can get "what is a div?", "what javascript native function gets a reference to an element?". The point here is not to test technical knowledge but to test personality. If a person gets upset and says "I know what I'm doing, this is easy, why are you asking me stupid questions?" that reeks of unprofessionalism. In my mind that person lacks social skills and will have difficult working in a team. Especially cross functional teams where not every person is a web developer or even developer period.
  
  
• Ask medium/hard questions. These are what you use to assess the technical chops of a candidate. Ask real world questions relating to the technology and make people white board it. Also be lenient on syntax errors, people get freaked out and may get a few thigns wrong. It's more important to see if they understand concepts. For example, we were interviewing for an angular role and someone used ng-visible instead of ng-show. He used it correctly, but probably just got nervous so I let it slide.
  
  
• Ask really hard algorithm questions. Like the easy question, the point here is not the answer. I couldn't care less. The point is to see how the candidate reacts under pressure. Do they throw a fit and start saying "it's unfair" ( I had a guy do this)? Do they quit without trying and say "no I'm not gonna try"? Or do they have a conversation with you, mention that they haven't had to do something like this but will try and talk out the answer with you? This is the best result, but I love this type of question because I want to know how the person will react under stress. We don't have a lot of stress, but as any development job, it might come up.
  
  
  As for format, he's what I recommend:
  
  
• Start with an introduction on your team and self. Briefly mention what you do.
  
  
• Ask the candidate to talk about their experience. Watch what they say, are they speaking all technical terms? Are they discussing recent projects from a high level. This will tell you a lot about how they thing. Also ask questions about what they talked about. Do they answer or ignore you? I had a guy who would not let me get a word in edgewise. And when I did ask a question he would ignore it and just say "you gotta hear this!"
  
  
• Technical questions on a whiteboard. If the room doesn't have a whiteboard, get one :)
  
  
• Towards the end ask the candidate if they have any questions. Good candidates will ask about the job ,culture, expectations etc. Not asking anything is a red flag for me.
  
  Sorry for the lengthy post, but I hope this helped.
  
  Edit: Forgot to mention. For internal candidates, you have to be a bit more careful. Be honest and talk to your boss about what you think. If the person can't cut it, you have a responsibility to say it now rather than live with the consequences later. If you pass an internal candidate and go with someone else, don't feel bad and he/she asks about it just refer them to your manager.

First, be SURE you know what you're doing. It only takes one botched job to sink a new detailer. I've seen it happen multiple times when a high schooler tries it out as a summer job and messes up a paint job with his new orbital polisher. People care a lot about their cars, so you need to be good enough to make a difference without overreaching.

Second, advertise! You're going to need to get your name out there. Go to a car club, put an ad in the newspaper, flyers around town, anything to get the business rolling.

Third, read up on starting up and running a business. There will be some unforeseen hurdles you'll have to go through if you're creating a business and not just under-the-table cash. Things like insurance, setting up an LLC, starting a business bank account, getting licenses, taxes, etc.

Fourth, be realistic. You're not going to get very lucrative jobs starting out. They'll likely be things like "clean up all this pet hair and cheerios dust from the back seat of my minivan" rather than full paint restoration.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, I recommend reading this book.


Good luck! Be sure to stop over at /r/AutoDetailing for some expert opinions!

Here's my list of the classics:

General Computing

• But How Do It Know? - The Basic Principles of Computers for Everyone
  
  
• The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles
  
  
• Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software
  
  
• Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid
  
  Computer Science
  
  
• The New Turing Omnibus: Sixty-Six Excursions in Computer Science
  
  
• Compilers: Principles, Techniques, and Tools, 2nd Edition (aka The Dragon Book)
  
  
• The Art of Computer Programming
  
  
• Algorithms, 4th Edition
  
  
• Introduction to Algorithms, 3rd Edition (aka CLRS)
  
  
• Essential Algorithms: A Practical Approach to Computer Algorithms Using Python and C#, 2nd Edition
  
  
• Grokking Algorithms: An Illustrated Guide for Programmers and Other Curious People
  
  
• Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs, 2nd Edition (aka SICP, available for free on the MIT website)
  
  
• Discrete Mathematics with Applications, 4th Edition
  
  Software Development
  
  
• Designing Data-Intensive Applications: The Big Ideas Behind Reliable, Scalable, and Maintainable Systems by Martin Kleppmann
  
  
• Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software (aka The Gang of Four)
  
  
• Think Like a Programmer: An Introduction to Creative Problem Solving
  
  
• The Pragmatic Programmer: your journey to mastery, 20th Anniversary Edition, 2nd Edition
  
  
• The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering
  
  
• Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, 2nd Edition
  
  
• The Design of Everyday Things
  
  
• Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship
  
  
• Programming Pearls, 2nd Edition
  
  
• Soft Skills: The Software Developer's Life Manual
  
  
• Hello, Startup: A Programmer's Guide to Building Products, Technologies, and Teams
  
  
• Hacker's Delight, 2nd Edition
  
  
• Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, 3rd Edition
  
  Case Studies
  
  
• The Soul of a New Machine
  
  
• Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
  
  
• Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
  
  
• Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet
  
  
• Fire in the Valley: The Birth and Death of the Personal Computer, 3rd Edition
  
  Employment
  
  
• Cracking the Coding Interview: 189 Programming Questions and Solutions, 6th Edition
  
  
• The Complete Software Developer's Career Guide: How to Learn Programming Languages Quickly, Ace Your Programming Interview, and Land Your Software Developer Dream Job
  
  
• The Self-Taught Programmer: The Definitive Guide to Programming Professionally
  
  
• The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development
  
  Language-Specific
  
  C
  
  
• The C Programming Language, 2nd Edition
  
  Python
  
  
• Automate the Boring Stuff with Python: Practical Programming for Total Beginners, 2nd Edition
  
  
• Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming
  
  
• Python Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science, 3rd Edition
  
  
• Effective Python: 59 Specific Ways to Write Better Python
  
  C#
  
  
• The C# Player's Guide, 3rd Edition
  
  C++
  
  
• The C++ Programming Language, 4th Edition
  
  
• Starting Out with C++: from Control Structures to Objects, 9th Edition
  
  Java
  
  
• Introduction to Java Programming and Data Structures: Comprehensive Version, 11th Edition
  
  
• [Java: A Beginner's Guide](https://www.amazon.com/Java-Beginners-Seventh-Herbert-Schildt/dp/1259589315/, 7th Edition)
  
  
• Java: The Complete Reference, 11th Edition
  
  
• Core Java Volume I - Fundamentals, 11th Edition
  
  
• Starting Out with Java: From Control Structures through Objects, 6th Edition
  
  
• Effective Java, 3rd Edition
  
  Linux Shell Scripts
  
  
• The Linux Command Line: A Complete Introduction, 2nd Edition
  
  
• Wicked Cool Shell Scripts: 101 Scripts for Linux, OS X, and UNIX Systems, 2nd Edition
  
  
• Linux Command Line and Shell Scripting Bible
  
  
• Mastering Linux Shell Scripting
  
  Web Development
  
  
• Learning Web Design: A Beginner's Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics, 5th Edition
  
  
• Eloquent JavaScript: A Modern Introduction to Programming, 3rd Edition (also available for free on the author's website)
  
  
• JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development
  
  
• HTML and CSS: Design and Build Websites
  
  
• You Don't Know JS: Up & Going
  
  Ruby and Rails
  
  
• Ruby on Rails Tutorial: Learn Web Development with Rails, 4th Edition (Note: this book is somewhat out of date compared to the live version on the author's website.)
  
  
• The Well Grounded Rubyist, 3rd Edition
  
  
• Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby: An Agile Primer
  
  
• Agile Web Development with Rails 5.1
  
  
• Programming Ruby 1.9 & 2.0: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide, 4th Edition
  
  
• Eloquent Ruby
  
  Assembly
  
  
• Assembly Language for x86 Processors, 8th Edition

Congrats! As someone who made a similar transition about 8yrs ago... Being a successful manager is about understanding your upper management's goals, effectively delegating to your directs, guiding them using appropriate situational leadership principles, and earning the trust of your peers, directs, and management through consistency, communication, and delivering results. Advocate for your people, empower them to do their jobs, and give honest feedback. It's all easier said than done :)

Go read some books!

The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter

The Great Workplace: How to Build It, How to Keep It, and Why It Matters

Leadership and the One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership II

> Total overkill. Bad idea.

I disagree to a certain extent. Go ahead and the get the books. But before you read all the CCNA books, please read Radia Perlman's 2nd Ed book, Interconnections: Bridges, Routers, Switches, and Internetworking Protocols. http://tinyurl.com/7sln2p6 It provides authoritative and comprehensive information on general networking concepts, routing algorithms and protocols, addressing, and the mechanics of bridges, routers, switches, and hubs. Her book is mostly theory, but then the Cisco books will make a lot more sense after that.

> Buying hardware now doesn't help you with the entry level exams as they are more adequately covered by simulators and it just increases the chance it'll be outdated and useless for future exams.

Buying an outdated c2600 will help him out in an interview. When I'm interviewing NOC people / junior network admins, I want them to know the following:

1. How to console into a Cisco device.
   
2. How to password recover a Cisco device.
   
3. How to upgrade the flash and DRAM on a Cisco device.
   
4. How to set up a tftp server.
   
5. How to upgrade the IOS on a Cisco device.
   
   He will need at least one piece of equipment to play with and say he has experience doing the five things stated.
   
   > You need experience for the higher profile jobs, and that means working your way up from the bottom.
   
   Not totally true. It saddens me when people start at help desk because they don't know any better. I'm going to keep harping on this - you have to people network to find a great job. It's not just how much experience you have, it's who you know and who knows you.
   
   
6. Get on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com) and start people networking. I'm not going to explain LinkedIn to you, there is plenty of information out there.
   
   
7. Go to your local Cisco Users Group. If there isn't one in your town, ask your local Cisco office or a Cisco VAR (value added reseller) if they can help you start a group.
   
   
8. Make your own business cards and become your own consultant. Be an "IT Consultant" for "<Your Name> Computer Services" or something more ingenious than what I can think of off hand. VistaPrint is your friend, and don't get the free ones, they make you look cheap when you want to look professional. Hand them out at the Cisco Users Group.
   
   
9. Read books on how to find a job and how to sell (yourself.) Read this book - Guerilla Marketing for Job Hunters - http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Marketing-Job-Hunters-3-0/dp/1118019091/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323786299&sr=1-2
   
   
10. Read this other book - Little Red Book of Sales Answers: 99.5 Real World Answers That Make Sense, Make Sales, and Make Money - http://www.amazon.com/Little-Red-Book-Sales-Answers/dp/0131735365/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323129165&sr=8-1
    
    
11. Check your local chamber of commerce web site and start researching companies in your area. Once you find a few that you would like to work for, contact the CIO / CTO of the company and ask to do an informational interview because you want to know what it's like to work in IT for a company. If you don't know what an informational interview is, Google it.
    
    You do all this and more, chances are you won't be a help desk grunt hating life and not moving up.

A few recommendations for you.

Ray Dalio - Principles for success. https://youtu.be/B9XGUpQZY38
I think you’ll see how his advice and mindset can apply to your situation.

Michael Watkins - First 90 Days. https://www.amazon.com/First-90-Days-Strategies-Expanded/dp/1422188612

I think when people get start new roles there’s this expectation of ‘plug n play’ and immediate acceleration for the business, and it’s tempting to skip steps. I think this book does a great job of outlining what you should do. I’ve had to take over leadership roles in turnaround company, which basically is saying the odds of failing is much, much greater than success. I found using the recommendations from book as a good way to manage expectations and covering all areas and nobody could accuse me of not thinking things through when something bad happens. I would look at your next 90 days as the first 90 day do-over. Follow the steps, and see if there’s improvement,

20-30% time, I would look into exploring what ‘problem’ in your industry or field that is worth solving. Maybe it can help your company, maybe it doesn’t. Maybe you have do it secretively. MayBe it leads you into entrepreneurship (but you should passionate in solving problem, than enamored with building a company). Maybe it leads you funding somebody else to execute on your idea. Or if your time at current company ends, then you can pursue this problem/solution with another company. If you don’t know you can carve out the 20% time. I would bucket all tasks considering urgent and important. Only give priority to tasks that are both urgent and important. Don’t stress on urgent/unimportant and not-urgent/unimportant tasks.

My vote is you should stay, make some effort to get good at job including ID-ing current issues, but at same time be proactive in figuring out what you want to do, and making a plan for it, and taking action. This way you have clear idea what your options really are. Quit because there is something you really wish to pursue that’s worth more than that high compensation package that you’re getting now.

Job hunting is a whole job in itself! Don't be too hard on yourself. I definitely don't have firsthand experience with the job market in Canada, let alone the oil business, but I would say that 4-day turnaround was an awesome anomaly, but nothing to get discouraged about if it doesn't happen again.

One thing I encourage you to back/stay away from is the tendency to exercise quantity over quality in your job search. I used to be the worst at this. My dad would always ask, "How many cover letters/resumes did you send out today?" when really that is not a good metric for measuring your hard work.

My program at school assigned "The 2-Hour Job Search" as a textbook and it has been soooo helpful in teaching me what things to focus on in order to get an advantage in today's competitive job market. I highly recommend this book to you and all of my friends and family looking for jobs.

What matters the most to me:

• Your ability to demonstrate that you can program in person. If your interview doesn't require you demonstrate some basic programming in person, their department may have other issues.
  
• Portfolio. Have a github account and open source projects? You're at the front of the pack.
  
• Human references. Basically, anyone that can verify that you're responsible enough to show up on time, complete a job, and communicate potential issues before they catch on fire.
  
  It's assumed that if you can program well in a couple languages, that you're capable of learning whatever toolset they use, especially for entry positions.
  
  GPA, though? Maybe larger companies call and verify, but I've never bothered checking or requested a transcript. I've had people with 3.5's that weren't motivated or fast, and I've seen people with 2.5's that were brilliant. Corporate might care more than a small business.
  
  I'd recommend grabbing a copy of Smart and Gets Things Done, which is targeted more at people hiring, but will show a lot of what to expect, and what the competition is.
  
  Also, get an internship your senior year (or earlier, if you have the time). You don't need to plan to work there forever, but getting something on a resume, some professional references, and some perspective on what the industry will be like is incredibly valuable.

I'm starting my MBA this fall, but I've been using The 2-Hour Job Search to find people to contact about internships. It's worked way better than I could've imagined.

I've had 9 info interviews with people this month in the industry I'm interested in, and have had good email exchanges with several more. It's nice because it gives you exact steps to follow for networking, which is something I've never been very good at.

I'm also planning on attending the career fairs at school, talking to recruiters that come to school, and going to career fairs where companies I'm interested in will have recruiters.

On top of that, my LinkedIn profile and resume are both pretty polished so I can send one or the other to people on short notice.

CERN exerts a brain drain effect: many of the most promising experimental physicists are relocating to Europe because that's where the action is in their field. From the perspective of an American, it would be better for America to gain physicists from Europe rather than losing them. There are arguments that benefiting from scientific brain drain is excellent for the US economy.

The data from the LHC and the theories it's testing are arcane for now, but there's a chance it could be massively important down the road. The study of atomic fission used to be merely scribbles. Is there a guarantee that quantum field theory will be as pivotal as atomic fission? No. But there's a slight chance.

It's kind of like early exploration of Antarctica: was it useful at the time? No. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Yes and No are both valid (depending on what you value), but I'd say yes.

edit: I meant to link this book instead

Sorry to hear about your troubles!

Hmm, for job hunting I'd recommend:

Break The Rules: The Secret Code to Finding a Great Job Fast

It has the best way of looking at "selling yourself" to people I've ever seen in a book. Plus it came out in 2001 and you can buy it for a penny + shipping.

If you're interested in working for yourself (starting work now, not waitin around), I'd recommend:

Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $100,000 a Year or More

Or anything by Robert W. Bly. The guy's a genius.

For idea-generating for non-writing self-professions, I'd recommend:

The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future

If you create your own start-up, Bly has a marketing book too. I'd get that. Anything business-related written by the guy is worth its weight in gold.

If you don't see a job in sight, I would highly consider self-employment, just because you can start today. I think it's great that anyone, anywhere can say "I'm now employed" if they want to. There is responsibility for paying yourself, of course, but now no one can fire you, and they don't take a percent away from your earnings. You get all the kickback. And it's not a pyramid scheme-ish company like Amway, where layers of people are all getting a chunk of your profit (just like any other job you work for other people).

You sound intelligent and experienced; you should go for it if you've got the gumption.

This is something Scott Adams has talked about a lot. In fact, he wrote a book about it.

His main advice is to use systems, not goals. Don’t focus on specific goals. Focus on doing the things you can do day to day that will inevitably result in good things. You will always have some specific things in mind and you may achieve those things, but your happiness doesn’t hinge on it. If you follow a good system you will enjoy long term success one way or another.

You’re also not in the forever unhappy state of never being where you want to be. Goals, by definition, are things that haven’t happened yet. You focus on doing what you can do right here and now so you are constantly winning.

No, you're not alone. I was a sysadmin for a while but I went back to school for botany. I had always been into biology but I got into IT for the $$$. I still do a bit of IT work. I like to offset the IT sterility with my plants; works for me.

I've got a lot of ideas and doing the nursery thing is one of them. I read this book on running a nursery and I found it to be adequate. I mean, you're not going to learn everything you need to know from a book. I've heard good stuff about this book but I haven't read it (yet).

Get your hands in the dirt, sure, but don't forget that your computing skills can be a huge asset. Specifically automation if you decide to go the hydroponic food greenhouse/warehouse route that's going to be a lifesaver. They talk a little bit about computers in that first book I mentioned and (bless their hearts) it looks like the nursery industry is severely limited in their computer integration. Just spitballing here: I think that doing a few things Arduino controlled would be smart. I'm talking about cycle timers (for timed on/off operations), sensors (numerous things), irrigation controls. This sort of thing can give you a big leg up on the competition I would think. Don't throw out the baby with the bath water.

Don't be worried, be glad that you're finding out so early!

I had to figure it out for myself when I was 17. No doctor had even suggested it as a possibility. But I found the diagnosis, and doctors confirmed it. Life got a lot easier after that - having a diagnosis is fantastic.

A diagnosis is not a bad thing. It's a good thing. Nothing is different from the way it was before - the only difference is that y'all are aware of the problem now, and can take steps to make his life easier and more comfortable.

If you (or someone else close to your son) learn as much as you can, and help your son get adequate treatment, he'll be fine.

Also, this is a great book, if you can get a copy. Basically 'Ehlers-Danlos, Hypermobility, for Dummies' :) It covers almost every aspect of hypermobile EDS, how it relates to daily life, how your son can take care of himself, and how doctors can help.

Thank you for the information. I'm going to look through all of it. Also, please remember this is just an interview, not a job offer. I'll know in a week. For those who care, here's a great TED talk about prepping yourself for a nervous situation (like an interview)..

Also, here are the books I am currently waiting to have delivered from Amazon:

• How to Hire A-Players: Finding the Top People for Your Team- Even If You Don't Have a Recruiting Department
  
• Successful Onboarding: Strategies to Unlock Hidden Value Within Your Organization
  
• The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter, Updated and Expanded (I'm intending to reverse engineer this book, to develop a strategy for onboarding)
  
• Onboarding: How to Get Your New Employees Up to Speed in Half the Time
  
• Hiring for Attitude: A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude

I'm in a similar position. I don't have a huge emergency fund because I know in a real dire emergency I could always call up my parents. I'd rather pay my loans quicker than work for years to build an emergency fund and I have the luxury of that. If you have any kind of safety net like that you might want to do the same.

So here is how I do it:

• Emergency fund (up to a couple months of living expenses)
  
• 401k up to company match (mine doesn't match right now so i skip this)
  
• Student loans (what you can pay over min payment, target high interest loans)
  
• Roth IRA (can only put away 5,500 in this a year)
  
• Short term savings (or apply any extra not used for living expenses to loans or more to 401k if you like)
  
  I think you should throw as much money as you can at the loans without skipping on your 401k and possibly a roth IRA. Those loans are guaranteed to lose you money at their interest rates.
  
  You should also make sure the funds you choose on your 401k are low expense ratios with no loading fees. There is some good info on this in the sidebar.
  
  This book looks a bit cheesy but honestly it spells everything out in simple terms and it's meant for recent grads. I grabbed it off my roommates bookshelf one day and ended up reading it cover to cover. It really re-states much of what anyone on this subreddit would tell you.
  
  Best of luck, sounds like you have a good start on things!

Thank you! One more suggestion is that you read The Professor Is In by Karen Kelsky, and the earlier the better. Many doctoral students are in the mindset that they are a student in relation to their professors, when actually, they should be in the mindset that they are future colleagues of current professors. They go to class, they complete their assignments, they go home, and think that's it. When actually, they should start thinking of themselves as colleagues, while respecting certain boundaries, as well as network and continuing productivity in the profession. This goes back to the creating knowledge rather than learning knowledge. This book should definitely make you think about the higher education profession as a whole and will make you better prepared.

There're these books, with the sort of meta, job/project wisdom I think, being glancingly familiar with them (though I haven't read either, they just look like what you're looking for). For what it's worth they're both well-known developers.

97 Things Every Programmer Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the Experts

And -

Chad Fowler's "The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development"

I have ADD too, it may take you longer to learn programming than some other people and that is ok. I highly recommend Vyvanse if you can afford it, if not I would ask your doctor about Adderal. Write down your programming goals and proactively minimize distractions. If you get too distracted programming at home, go to the library, put on some headphones and listen to Bach. Writing things down helps a lot, keep a notes.txt or goals.txt on your desktop and keep them open. Look into ways to manage your time better. There is tons of help out there on the internet. I also recommend the book Pragmatic Thinking & Learning (http://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Thinking-Learning-Refactor-Programmers/dp/1934356050)

Good Luck, remember programming is something you have to work on your whole life and each day you just get a little bit better.

Heh :-)

In fact, I still put off things. Though they explain why that is, and that's very important I think, so you don't get frustrated because you're suddenly supposed to be a high-achiever (at least by your own unrealistic expectations).

Habits get ingrained more and more over time. They use the analogy of a slope in the winter. When you slide down you carve out a little path, then another. Over time though, you carve out one path the most and you're less likely to take another route. You don't get rid of procrastination by reading a silly book. You gain awareness though and are given the tools/techniques to battle it, which takes time and effort. But I already notice that the discomfort I feel when putting something off has lessened quite a bit. That alone makes it more likely for me to follow through.

While we're in that new-agey mood I'd also like to recommend mindfulness meditation to my fellow hackers. I first heard about it in Pragmatic Thinking and Learning where it was suggested as a way to increase concentration. When I glimpsed a little bit through the procrastination book, I noticed that they recommend mindfulness as well in a later chapter. Mindfulness meditation, to me, really seems to be a magic bullet. One that works. :-)

If you read this and think it's bullshit, feel free to voice your opinion. Maybe we can sort out some misunderstandings.

When meditation is discussed I have the feeling that to some people it seems to be a wishy-washy esoteric practice. It is not. I have avoided it for a while for that concern, but it turned out to be very helpful in quieting the mind and gaining focus. The problem here also is: meditation is an active process (you don't just sit around doing nothing) AND it needs practice. Now we're back to that procrastination thing. ;-) It sucks when you put something off that you know is helpful to you and only takes 15-30 minutes (or how long you decide to practice).

Sorry to hear, recently went through the recruiting process. You can read this book, super helpful and should finish in a day or two

https://www.amazon.com/2-Hour-Job-Search-Technology-Faster/dp/1607741709

Update your resume first thing, format: task, people, result. Can help review if you DM me

Create a spreadsheet of people you can reach out to, get names on Linkedin, guess email format (i.e.: firstname.lastname@firmname.com), send cold email:

"Hello [name],

My name is [name], I am a [your Marketing job title]. I am interested in getting into [job applying to] with a strong interest in [firm name]. Would you have 15 / 30' to chat about your work in the next 2 weeks? Would love to hop on a call / buy you a coffee to learn more about your experience recruiting or any advice you might have.

Understand your schedule can get busy but would really appreciate any of your time.

Look forward to chat soon"

50 - 80% of the time people will respond, especially alum from school / anyone have something similar to your background

90% of those should convert to first round interview

Do 2 - 3 months of this talking to 30 - 60 companies should land you any job you like

I know a few people who managed to live abroad more or less indefinitely by taking small jobs at backpacker hostels. There's a book out there somewhere called Work Your Way Around the World.

I'm amazed at the way other foreigners here in China waste money on things like taxis and "western" restaurants. The bus is basically free...maybe $0.15? And a bowl of noodles in an alley somewhere is still less than a dollar.

Plane tickets account for 90% of the money I spend annually and that's because my dates aren't flexible enough. If you don't really give a shit when you leave or when you come back you can save more money than you can believe. Sometimes the best bet is buying something months in advance; sometimes the best deal is getting a redeye flight that leaves tomorrow and the airline can't fill all the seats.

If you're curious about what to read, read this:
http://www.amazon.com/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-Still/dp/1491518855

He's an odd dude, but he has amazing insights you will carry with you all the same, and they will help you be successful.

I've lived in Japan for a couple years and Australia for one year. Assuming you're a U.S. citizen and not in school, your options are pretty limited. You can do a year-long working holiday in Australia or New Zealand, I know for Australia at least, you can apply online, and I got my response back in a a few hours. In Japan I got the job first and the company provided me with a visa. If you are in school, you should look into a study abroad program. As far as your other questions, you do need a visa to work in another country, you file your taxes like you always do (but with a different form, it's on the IRS web site), your citizenship and residency remain unchanged. There's a book called Work Your Way Around the World that you might look through to get some ideas, but it's not particularly relevant to US citizens, since we don't have much to choose from in the working holiday department. Finally, pack half what you think you'll need. Good luck!

He is most commonly known as the creator of the comic strip "Dilbert" but he is much more complex. Recently he has gained notoriety for being one of the only people to correctly predict Trump's victory in the 2016 election based upon Trump's masterful powers of "persuasion". He is a pretty smart dude. I highly recommend his blog and also his book.

This book is an absolute must read for humanities and social science students, maybe useful for others as well: The Professor Is In by Karen Kelsky. It’s all about how to prepare yourself and navigate this hellish job market.

I think of tenure track professors as approaching something like professional athletes or artists at this point. You have to be both exceptionally talented and determined to make it, and even then may need a bit of luck. Know what you’re getting into, and only bother if you’re ready to give it 100%.

I just bought this book, which is less a narrative, but rather more of a hard, truthful, as well as insightful look into the problems of humanities academia, and how best you can survive them.

https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Essential-Guide-Turning-Ph-D/dp/0553419420/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494283261&sr=8-1&keywords=the+professor+is+in

My only tip for you regarding imposter syndrome, is that everyone has it. However, you keep that truth buried deep in yourself. When it comes time to talk about your work to others, or in a job interview, YOU PUT ON THAT IMPOSTER MASK AND NEVER BLINK OR TAKE IT OFF until you're back home.

We all wear masks to function. Learning to live with them is an essential life skill.

For other examples of why this is essential, I'd also like to cite Dr. David Chappelle:

https://vimeo.com/58226569

If you want to pick up some Cryptography, The Code Book is a great intro.

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning is good for learning to learn.

The Pragmatic Programmer is good for project code planning and learning how to write code in a well thought out way.

Ethernet: The Definitive Guide is a good read if you want to get up to snuff on your networking, though it can be a bit dry at times.

(NOTE: I'm a Law Student, not an attorney.... so of course that means I know everything)

A filler course I had to take this last semester was on opening your own practice. The main assignment was to write up a business plan hitting the main points with a 1 year and 5 year budget (the budget being the really important part).

We used this text, which the professor liked but I found to be a tad out of date. Still, it hits the high notes and what you should at least be considering. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590312473


Insurance is cheap. I was quoted a rough number of $800 for the first year and about a 20% increase for the next few years capping at around $2500 by the fifth or six year. This was a generic practice and different disciplines might vary a bit. Also consider insurance for your office (as in, clients might slip and fall on ice or the rug). And don't forget about health insurance for yourself. Working for yourself means no sick days, so access to a good doctor will be useful.


Check for local bars in addition to the state bar. The local bar in my area is only another $150/year and has enough free CLE's to cover the bulk of what my state requires every year, if not all. Your state may be similar.

For my class, I argued that using public law libraries and fastcase (Free subscription with bar membership in my state) was enough to start until I figure out if I need Westlaw or Lexis Nexis. But that's another cost to remember.


Filing cabinet's, office equipment, and storage concerns should be considered as you'll have paperwork that you need to hold onto long term until you shred everything.


Consider separate banks for your business, iolta, and personal accounts for safety reasons.


Postage will be a bitch. Be sure to budget for stamps and envelopes (consider a postage meter). Don't forget that you may need access to a fax machine. Also, you may need a beast of a printer and lots of toner.


Virtual Receptionists (eg: Ruby Receptionists) are actually pretty reasonably priced and can add a decent professional polish.


Get some templates for intake forms, retainer forms, and related. Lawyer Mutual has some templates online you can work from.


Skimming over what I submitted, those were the main points the professor was hammering. You'll be a Sole Proprietorship at first, but S Corp might be reasonable after a few years.

I don't work in the game industry, but maybe these books can help you out.

Books

• Break Into The Game Industry: How to Get A Job Making Video Games
  
• How to Score Your First Game Job: And What to Expect from the Videogame Industry
  
• Breaking Into the Game Industry: Advice for a Successful Career from Those Who Have Done It
  
• How to Get a Job in Video Games
  
• Get in the Game: Careers in the Game Industry
  
• How to Become a Video Game Artist: The Insider's Guide to Landing a Job in the Gaming World
  
• Land a Job as a Video Game Tester
  
• Beginner's Guide (Video Game Careers Book 1)
  
• VGC Ultimate Edition (Video Game Careers) (Volume 4)
  
• Inside the Video Game Industry : Game Developers Talk About the Business of Play
  
• Video Games: An Introduction to the Industry
  
• The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future
  
  Articles
  
  
• How to get into the games industry – an insiders' guide
  
• Game Developers, what is getting into the gaming industry really like?
  
  Videos
  
  
• Top 10 Tips for Getting Into The Video Game Industry
  
• "How does a person get a job at your videogame company?"
  
• What's it's really like to work in Game industry
  
  Edit: Added more things to read and watch.

Tell stories about the projects that you've worked on that demonstrate the skills that the position requires. This indirectly shows you're an effective communicator, and it also engages the interviewer on a conversational level.

Misc other things:

• record yourself speaking and telling these stories. practice and improve.
  
• practice positive, assertive body language. this will improve your confidence and is a good social signal to interviewers.
  
• you know that they're going to ask, so have explanations on why you only have 1 exam passed
  
  If you have some time, I would highly recommend buying & reading "Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters". It really helps you frame "you" as something that employers want. Hard to explain, but it'll help.

It took me awhile to go "AHA - THOSE ARE SUBLUXATIONS?!??!".

My elbow is my most obvious - when I go to grab something, or move too quickly, I will feel (and sometimes hear) a click or pop and then for a moment I am in excruciating pain - until it slides back into place.
But I also sublux my left hip pretty often - which is usually more of a flash of confusion, discomfort, and it stops my world (but not nearly as painful as my elbow).
I do have other locations that sublux (my left shoulder and my ribs...ugh, the ribs) - but they are less frequent. Also, lately I have been experiencing a lot of pain in my feet - which I have started to maybe think are subluxations.

I think you'll find in responses from others - that subluxs can range from super painful to almost none based on how often they occur and where. Generally if it feels like a click or pop, or the joint catches - it may be a sublux.

The medication that helped me most was Diclofenac (anti-inflam) and Gabapentin.
Gabapentin was okay, but Diclofenac CHANGED MY WORLD. It's behaves differently than other anti-inflams (though, I don't know the technical reason why).

Flare ups - frankly, I just do whatever I can to get through them. Sometimes they last a few days, sometimes a few weeks - but I just ended what I essentially believe to be a two year flare up - or rather, two years of sequential flare ups as different parts of my body affected each other and caused problems. However - this was because no one knew what was wrong with me and I was doing all the wrong things and getting the wrong treatment.

Now that I know what is going on - I am more capable of reducing the length of time by doing the right exercises (Muldowney Protocol) and avoiding activities that cause me to injure myself further.

How bad will this get? No one can answer that, unfortunately. But the best thing is that now you know what you are experiencing, you have the knowledge to avoid the things that hurt you as best you can.
For example, I cannot cross my legs or twist my body if I want my SI Joint to stay in place. I just can't.

Strengthening your muscles is the #1 way to improve your odds. I just described why the other day in another thread.

One of the big things we also need to learn to do is pace ourselves. Have you heard of the spoon theory?
Gotta learn how to prioritize those spoons. It can be a tough pill to swallow - I started this journey in October of last year (still waiting on my geneticist appt) with a clinical diagnosis, and I am still coming to terms with certain things I want to do, but shouldn't.

As for using a cane or stick - a lot of people do. If you think it will help you, it may. For me, sitting still generally causes me more issues that getting up and doing some slow, calculated moving.
You may also want to look into bracing for your bad days - work with your physio on this, they should be able to help you establish if any braces help. For me, a lot of my pain stems from my SI Joint upslipping. Almost all of my pain radiates from that point (it has causes S Curve Scoliosis, Lordosis, which has my neck out of wack - which then causes nerve issues down my right arm and down my left leg).

There are braces for the SI Joint - but again, the best policy is core strengthening.

Lots of people go on disability (in the US, not sure what it is called elsewhere) for EDS. From what I understand - it is a long hard road, but if you have good doctors and patience, you can make it happen.
I actually just received a handicap placard (for disabled parking) last month, though - thankfully - I only need it occasionally when things are at their worst.

As for advice - read these books (they can be expensive, but in the grand scheme, they are great):

Joint Hypermobility Handbook- A Guide for the Issues & Management of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome Hypermobility Type and the Hypermobility Syndrome - This was written by the "EDS Guru" Dr. Tinkle. It is awesome and will help you through a lot of what you are experiencing.

And personally, I really like the Muldowney Protocol - this is a Physical Therapy regimen specifically for EDS patients. I have had a lot of success with it - as traditional PT actually injured me further.

Feel free to reach out to me to talk. It is scary at first - but there are ways to manage it. At first you feel very uncomfortable and anxious - and you actually spend some time "mourning" the life you wanted to lead. But eventually you find a new normal, have some small successes, and realize that you'll survive - just in a different manner you anticipated before EDS because a part of your life. :)

Rest is the #1 thing that has helped me. Rest, and restful activities. I cook 1-3 meals a day and that causes most of my pain. If I can avoid it, I do, and it helps.

If I can spend most of my time reading, or watching movies or something, my pain gradually disappears.

I'm at my worst when I have to do things all day. Walking around causes knee and foot pain. Cooking and cleaning cause arm and hand pain. When I had to write in school, my hands would ache for days.

If she does a lot of housework, taking up some of that (or hiring a maid or something if you have $$$) would be a great gift. The only real way to avoid injury is to not get hurt in the first place, and if her arms and hands are hurting the most, it's probably caused directly by what she does from day to day.

-

If her fingers get bent back or dislocated often, silver ring splints are very highly regarded. They prevent your fingers from getting bent back at all - hyperextension can cause a lot of damage over time.

You do have to get measured by a doctor, so that appointment would be the gift. It would probably be better not as a surprise, unless you know her fingers flexing are a big problem. They can sometimes be covered by insurance as they are custom orthotics, but you usually have to fight for it. I'm sure their "Contact Us" folks can help her get approved if you call, they only get paid if she does ;)

If her fingers aren't so much of a problem, an appointment with a really good orthopedist who's familiar with EDS would net her some awesome wrist, elbow, and/or shoulder braces. Cheap braces suck, they don't usually help. Good ones can be very expensive, but they really help. Insurance can help again here, but this also usually takes special approval.

-

Because she's new to the diagnosis, books about EDS could be a good small gift. Books like this one have taught me a lot about managing symptoms and getting through life comfortably.

-

And this probably wouldn't be appropriate, haha - but medical marijuana is right behind rest in terms of helping me get through the day every day. Constant pain has some really negative effects on your brain.

I used to take anti-inflammatories daily, and opioids when it was really bad, but both of those had terrible side effects.

Get her an ounce, dawg, #420blazeit (/s)

There are some books that give good insights into navigating the grad school process, including useful advice about how to map out important milestones (e.g. how to publish, navigating conferences, and most importantly setting yourself up early to be successful on the job market.)

1

2

3

[4] (http://www.amazon.com/Getting-What-You-Came-For/dp/0374524777/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41H6-kRMd5L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR107%2C160_&refRID=07NB1JFQT1BE3E6NARD9)

I'm not a sales guy but there's one great book on sales which I think everyone great with sales has read.

How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling

• The Passionate Programmer: Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development by Chad Fowler
  
• Head First Design Patterns by Eric Freeman and Elisabeth Robson
  
• The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt and Dave Thomas
  
• Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship by Robert C. Martin
  
• Code Complete (2nd Edition) by Steve McConnell
  
• Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler

you will want to read this book https://www.amazon.com/So-You-Want-Start-Nursery/dp/0881925845, as well as vol 2 of the "Ball Red Book" . https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/ball-redbook-volume-2-jim-nau/1100440834 Talk to your nearest agriculural school extension service for a crapton of free info on how to get started and contact your nearest farmers market to ask questions on what people have been buying and how to participate. START SMALL. DO NOT START INVESTING IN EXPENSIVE GIANT GREENHOUSES OR IRRIGATION SYSTEMS. The first book will give you lots of info on systems that can scale and how to kludge them together. I have worked with multimillion dollar growers who started out years ago with a cheap hoop greenhouse and a crop of 100 poinsettias. Slow and steady! GOOD LUCK!

I would like to recommend you read the book The Passionate Programmer (the first version of this book was titled "My Job Went to India").

While this book is primarily aimed at software developers, it contains a lot of information about how to improve yourself at work and become more indispensable. Some of the advice is how to build better relations with coworkers and when not to.

Make an appointment with your university's career guidance councilor. They're paid to think about this for you and should be able to help you establish a plan.

The Professor is in is also a pretty decent book, although it's primarily geared toward securing an academic position: https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Essential-Guide-Turning-Ph-D/dp/0553419420

Network with folks outside academia and try and do a research project with broader topical and methodological relevance.

Once you identify a career you'd like work to develop strong transferrable skills for that area.

I would recommend picking up a good book first. Renny Doyle. Great read. Pick up the nanoskin medium grade sponge, instead of clay. Much more user friendly and cheaper than most clay.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0762778768?cache=93c53338cc8c8b985cd3678d7df4f7a9&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70&qid=1413444641&sr=8-9#ref=mp_s_a_1_9

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning: Refactor Your Wetware

This is an awesome book that covers this topic pretty well. I re-read every once in a while o give myself a refresher. It's really great and is applicable outside of CS as well.

Seriously... do both. Play some games to relax your brain, and then code some. This has kept me pretty happy as a software engineer for over a decade.

You will find that taking breaks from programming doesn't equate to not being productive, and often in your career you will just go home or go chat at the coffee maker when stuck only to arrive at an answer. If you submit a problem to your brain and just let it do its thing, you'd be surprised that it comes up with an interesting and correct answer most of the time, or the aha moments we all desire. But you have to distract yourself first.

Also read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Thinking-Learning-Refactor-Programmers/dp/1934356050

If I was to make a guess, it is that your problem is not your technical skills. You can be the best programmer in the world, but if there are behavioral or cultural red flags you can have huge problems finding a job. What does a Google search for you turn up? How do you act in interviews? How are you to interact with? Those kind of things. A good starting point for addressing these issues is Land the Tech Job You Love. For general career development I have enjoyed The Passionate Programmer personally.

The best ones are of course free, and both this subreddit and bogelheads have a wealth of knowledge. I try and watch a tutorial or read a story a few times a week on both


For how to create and stick to a budget as a young professional, I like Dave Ramsey. He has tons of good rules of thumb and pitfalls to avoid that will be useful for the rest of your life. He's a bit conservative though, and I don't necessarily agree with his cash only, no debt strategies.


https://www.amazon.com/Total-Money-Makeover-Classic-Financial/dp/1595555277/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480449960&sr=8-1&keywords=dave+ramsey


Suze Orman is another great author for younger people, especially when tackling big things for the 1st time like home ownership and loans


https://www.amazon.com/Money-Book-Young-Fabulous-Broke/dp/1594482241/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480450023&sr=8-1&keywords=suze+orman


My top suggestion though is Rich Dad, Poor Dad. It's not as direct as many other personal finance books, as its more general advice on how to steer your financial life, but itss an incredible book


https://www.amazon.com/Rich-Dad-Poor-Teach-Middle/dp/1612680011/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480450131&sr=8-1&keywords=rich+dad+poor+dad

I've read Pragmatic Programmer. I'd recommend it too. I almost put it on the list, but I've read so many books that I'd recommend that the list would not be consumable. If you liked Pragmatic Programmer, I recommend that you also read Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the aspiring software craftsmen

Thanks, for posting this Reddit. Uhm, what helped me out was this book called : "Breaking Into the Game Industry" Breaking into the Game Indusry

It's a really good book that makes great key points that are valid, and its a short read! It'll take you about two hours to read the entire thing. Check it out! :D

Suze Orman has a whole line of books, and a TV show. I think one of them is "The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke". You can probably spot it at the local library, or buy a used copy from Amazon for about $4 after shipping & handling.
https://www.amazon.com/Money-Book-Young-Fabulous-Broke/dp/1594482241/

But you could just as easily browse the category on Amazon ("financial planning") and use reviews to guide you to a good library book or purchase a used book.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books/2717/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_b_2_3

A nation is valued by what it creates. Having a 300 million people who can have a mathematical ceiling of balancing a checkbook is not very competitive.


> I am actually working with a publisher to develop a Streets Smarts textbook for high-school and colleges around the US, and will definitely be incorporating some Reddit's thoughts and suggestions into the book.

It's already been created, http://www.amazon.com/Money-Book-Young-Fabulous-Broke/dp/1594482241/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1293751075&sr=8-2 It is cheap and quite concise.

How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger.

It's old but it is a story of an ordinary guy that managed to do remarkable things. While still being a good guy.

• Code by Charles Petzold
  
• The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas
  
• The Self-Taught Programmer by Cory Althoff
  
• Think Like a Programmer: An Introduction to Creative Problem Solving by V. Anton Spraul
  
• Introduction to Algorithms by Thomas Cormen, Charles Leiserson, Ronald Rivest and Cliffford Stein
  
• Apprenticeship Patterns by Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye
  
• Your Code as a Crime Scene by Adam Tornhill
  
  A few that are only relevant to specific languages or niches:
  
  
• Pearls of Functional Algorithm Design by Richard Bird
  
• Learn You a Haskell for Great Good! by Miran Lipovača
  
• JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford
  
• The You Don't Know JS series by Kyle Simpson, especially volumes 4 (Types & Grammar) and 5 (Async & Performance).
  
• Identity and Data Security for Web Development by Jonathan LeBlanc and Tim Messerschmidt

It does look like spam. Sorry.

I did not buy the course, but I've watched a few of his videos on YouTube. His thesis is to think of your career as a business, and to learn how to market yourself so that work comes to you, not the other way around. Pretty insightful stuff.

Irregardless, $299 is way overpriced. You can find the same advice in Chad Fowler's The Passionate Programmer.

I read an excellent book on this subject, by Tony Avent, who is an excellent nurseryman. Basically, he said nurseries do well as mom and pop operations with $50,000 in annual revenue and minimal expenses, or as large operations with a dozen employees with over $1,000,000 in annual revenue.

Read Avent's book; he goes into marketing, employee management, irrigation, shipping really everything. I live near Tony Avent's nursery, he locates and breeds unusual new vareities, which sell for premium prices.

I was in your position a while back, and this book did a great job of helping me start making sense of personal finance. From there, I went down a rabbit hole of reading pretty much everything from the PF reading list.

I cold reach out to people all the time on LinkedIn, I'd say at least half respond. That said, you do want to be tactical in your outreach - you don't just reach out to people and say "Hi, I'm planning on applying for a job at Google, I see you work there, would you mind referring me to the role?" Instead, you want to learn about their career, how they got there, how they're excelling, etc. A message like "Hi /u/_Floydian, I'm a graduate from school X, interested in Product Management. I found your LinkedIn page while searching for fellow alumni who work in product management at Company Y. I'm really impressed by your work experience, may I have 15 minutes of your time for a phone call or meeting to ask some more in depth questions?" From there you can meet with this person, ask about their career, and start building a relationship with them, and eventually get a referral (or get introduced to someone else of interest).

Anyways, I highly recommend reading The 2-hour Job Search. It's geared towards MBA students, but it really applies for any type of job search. It has example LinkedIn message templates, talks about how frequently to reach out to contacts, how to pick which companies to focus on, etc. It really revolutionized the way I search for jobs.

Not to discourage investing, but at 15, I'd focus on general personal finance knowledge. A youth-oriented book like Suze Orman's offers a lot of just good general knoweldge. You can find all of it online of course, but having a book is nice because without it, you might not know what to search for. You want to have a handle on saving and debt management before you learn the ins and outs of stock allocation.

If you do still have extra money to invest, I'd still recommend a book, just for the 'guided tour' factor. You can learn a ton on the Bogleheads wiki, but any site with that much information may be overwhelming for brand-new-to-investing people.

Pragmatic thinking and learning

Talent is Overrated

The first book explains the Dreyfus learning model. It builds off that with other models of learning like the sports model, chess model, and writing model. The authors explain the different ways you should learn for the different type of activity you're involved in. E.g. for chess, you study the moves the masters would make, compare it with the move you would make -- figure out why the chess master made his move, why you made yours, and which is really better.

The second book basically breaks the myth of talent, as its title implies. And it isn't just hard work or a lot of work that separates the knowledgeable or skilled from the unknowledgeable or unskilled. It's intentionally designed deliberate practice which makes the difference. The practice or learning you do has to have these characteristics to show considerable improvement:

1. It's designed specifically to improve performance.
   
2. It can be repeated a lot.
   
3. Feedback is continuously available and readable. (You know how well you're doing)
   
4. It is demanding.
   
   These ideas have a wide application, and if you're serious about learning or acquiring new skills you will definitely find them valuable.
   
   Lastly, check out something like Anki, a free spaced repetition tool. It basically reminds you of things you're about to forget, so you don't forget them. But you do have to actually use the program to get its benefits.
   
   Oh, and make some oaths and principles so you don't just give up on this stuff. Temporary setbacks are all part of the gameplan -- but complete failure is not. Example oath here
   
   

Pragmatic Thinking & Learning is a pretty good overview of different topics about learning and study skills.

Learn more, study less also a good book to use as an overview of topics.

LEARN MIND MAPPING

My go to recommendation to any leader in a new role.

As a HR business partner you will have a significant input into University strategy after all what is a university without its lecturers, your strategy will help define the future culture of the university. What an opportunity!

First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1422188612/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_i_V3PADbKFMBHQT

Is this the book? http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Freelance-Writer-Third-Edition/dp/0805078037

I'd love to hear which book you used and what parts you found most valuable!

There's a book I read many years ago titled Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters. https://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Marketing-Job-Hunters-3-0/dp/1118019091 It has a bunch of slightly dirty tricks for getting a job. While I haven't read the current version, I remember finding it helpful.

One idea you might consider are looking for announcements of people appointed to a new job, figuring out the person's old job, and applying for that.

By far, the best way to get a job is to ask friends. Most jobs vacancies aren't announced or posted. Many are just filled by word of mouth. So, tell everyone you know that you're looking for a job and tell everyone to send you any information about any job openings. Naturally, this assumes that your current employer won't be upset at this.

I am sorry you are having a hard time.

When I feel low about programming/engineering, I sometimes find a good book or two for motivation. The Passionate Programmer is one of my favorites.

Let r/learnprogramming and r/programming be your mentor!

Check out: http://programmingpraxis.com/ and http://codingkata.org/ for exercises to test out your programming.

Also, when I feel like "sharpening the saw", i sometimes go onto freelance websites and create a "breakable toy" based on someone's actual project.

These phrases are from the book: http://amzn.com/0596518382

Which I also recommend.

It wasn't the 'best of' lists that made people move to austin or seattle, it was the strong, booming economy. I recommend this book to understand Austin's growth:

https://www.amazon.com/New-Geography-Jobs-Enrico-Moretti/dp/0544028058

Every information/innovation jobs creates 5 service jobs. Having a microsoft or dell in town allows thousands of hipster bars and restaurants.

I really enjoy the book Apprenticeship Patterns. It’s got a lot of great advice about this subject. Apprenticeship Patterns: Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman https://www.amazon.com/dp/0596518382

I did this. Of the things you listed, West/Lexis subscriptions are not necessary at the beginning, and they're actually pretty expensive. Your local Bar association probably has a free legal database that you can access for free as a member of the Bar. They are not quite as comprehensive as West or Lexis, but they definitely get the job done. I think the most common one is called Casemaker. You can also use Google Scholar, too. Obviously Google Scholar can't Shepardize a case for you or anything like that, but in the actual practice of law you aren't going to be researching the hell out of every little point of law like you did in Legal Research and Writing, unless you're doing appellate work.

Biggest piece of advice I can give you at the beginning is to keep your overhead as low as possible. Many cities have "executive suite" type setups for rent. Essentially, you're renting a personal office and your rent is pooled with other attorneys to pay for common amenities like conference rooms, a main receptionist who routes all the phone calls, access to copy/fax machines, Internet service, telephone service, etc.

Other than that, obviously you need clients. Where will you get them? Start networking (I hate that term) with other established attorneys who probably have overflow work they can refer to you, or refer you clients who can't afford their rates, but can afford yours. Draft a retainer agreement to use. Know your jurisdiction's Rules of Professional Conduct on trust accounts, representation agreements, etc. Get an established attorney to be a mentor to you... no matter if you got an A in Property or Family Law or whatever else, once you get your first case, you will probably immediately say, "Oh shit, what the fuck do I do?!" You need someone who can show you the ropes of actually practicing law, which is nothing like reading 100 pages in your Con Law book and then answering theoretical questions on the Commerce Clause for an hour.

There are all kinds of other considerations, but you should buy this book, or check it out at a library: How to Start and Build a Law Practice, 5th ed. by Jay Foonberg. It's a classic, and it covers everything. Some of the information in it is a little outdated, but the overarching concepts are sound and it is packed full of great advice.

Here's the ones I like:

• All Your Worth by Elizabeth Warren
  
• The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke by Suze Orman
  
• Personal Finance for Dummies by Eric Tyson
  
  However, I highly recommend not buying them but borrowing them from the library and just taking notes on what you find interesting. Otherwise, it is $15 per book that you will read only once.

This book by Dr. Tinkle is a great resource:

http://www.amazon.com/Hypermobility-Handbook-Management-Ehlers-Danlos-Syndrome/dp/098257715X#

This is a good intro to MCAD: http://www.reddit.com/r/ehlersdanlos/comments/1uivbp/presentation_diagnosis_and_management_of_mast/


Some general resources: http://www.reddit.com/r/ehlersdanlos/comments/1ently/eds_resources/

POTS: http://www.reddit.com/r/ehlersdanlos/comments/1ug4mr/the_postural_tachycardia_syndrome_pots/

Another EDS guide: http://www.reddit.com/r/ehlersdanlos/comments/1n5kff/new_comprehensive_guide_about_eds/

Need for magnesium: http://www.reddit.com/r/ehlersdanlos/comments/1psq99/magnesium_and_ehlersdanlos_syndrome_why_persons/

Also don't ever be afraid to take a paper with you to the doctors office. Many of us bring the Pocinki paper when seeing a new doctor.

I would suggest reading this book from Scott Adams: https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-Still/dp/1491518855

It talks about setting up systems instead of goals, and how it helps achieving stuff and getting new opportunities (which might be completely different from what you thought you would be doing).

Goals are easily prone to failure. Systems set you up for success, whatever that ends up being.

Haven't yet seen anyone recommend this book. For many this is an indispensable resource for someone starting a solo practice.

FWIW, the author of this book says the best time to go solo is directly out of law school.

Read this: First 90 Days, Updated and Expanded: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1422188612/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_XqeFDbVRQHA8B

Then read this: The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0670921602/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_nreFDbZQPJHRM

Biggest failure is lack of humility. Remember you are a Servant Leader (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership) and are responsible for everything while owning nothing.

A friend recommended this book: The Google Resume by Gayle Laakmann McDowell

I would recommend it over any such service because it really helped me fix up my resume.

Pretty sure you mean Joel Splosky

(warning: Amazon link!)

I really like this one. There may be a newer edition. Plus, it's fun to say Foonberg

https://www.amazon.com/Start-Practice-Career-American-Association/dp/1590312473/ref=sr_1_1?crid=WP4PV3DP7NLO&keywords=start+law+firm&qid=1565391183&s=books&sprefix=start+law+%2Cstripbooks%2C162&sr=1-1

Education! Detailing, business, and marketing. Start with Renny Doyle's book on starting a detailing business.

If that resinates with you, pony up the money to get trained. You could learn on the job, but the risk and the ramp time are too high IMO.

Good luck!

[edit: sorry about the link, mods. I was being lazy.]

I read in this book recently

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0544028058/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_1?pf_rd_p=1944687722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0143120549&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=185ENY9WB6J9WYNFAWQK

That to have a growing region, you need cities which attract young and educated people. Having major universities is very helpful.

This is a pretty good book and is also only 4 months old, so very up to date.

When I started a new management role, I was gifted with The First 90 Days by Michael Watson. Very informative and helpful. One of the first things he asks his readers is to do a self-evaluation, and builds lessons from there. Good stuff.

If you all havent read his [book] (https://www.amazon.com/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-Still/dp/1491518855) I highly recommend it. Nearly finished with it and its very inspiring and eye-opening

> reading a report from an economist for Trulia

what about other economists who would for state universities, like Enrico Moretti or Edward Glaser or any number of other economists? Will you accept their peer reviewed claims?

Don't burn out. The world fell down around you, but you aren't responsible to bear it on your shoulders.

If you think you have a serious shot at the directorship, read The First 90 Days. Has some great information about promotions, gathering information on the situation, and building relationships up, down, and laterally.

Hey, I've been where you're at. Consider going to school such as University to focus on a niche in the games industry. E.G: Comp Sci for programming, HCI, for design, etc. Or you can go to a specialized game school that teaches you everything. Albeit, these don't prepare you very well for the industry unless you work incredibly hard, and or are a wunderkind.

One thing that helped me is the book by Brenda Romero Breaking Into the Games industry. It's a pretty solid primer for your question.
https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Into-Game-Industry-Successful/dp/1435458044

Edit: misspelled Brenda

Much like a boat, or an airplane, the original purchase price is only the beginning of the expenses. You have a lot more research ahead of you. Depending on where you plan on going with this, I'd suggest either Building Your Own Greenhouse, or So You Want To Start a Nursery.

I'm an instructor at Dev Bootcamp. I regularly teach people to be Web application developers who are in their 30s and 40s. If you want to ramp up into a career in Web development, or software engineering generally, you're looking at 2 to 4 years of intense study. This will get you from dabbler to apprentice to a journeyman status, where you are getting paid well to build things and keep learning.

Did you plan to retire at 24? If not, you are FINE.

Here's a book you might find useful:
http://www.amazon.com/Apprenticeship-Patterns-Guidance-Aspiring-Craftsman/dp/0596518382

Just an FYI, it is cheaper on amazon http://www.amazon.com/The-Passionate-Programmer-Remarkable-Development/dp/1934356344

Its the same ISBN from what I could see, even though amazon says 1st edition and the publisher says 2nd edition.

Yeah, the fatigue sucks :( ... The "Joint Hypermobility Handbook" (a great reference for EDS symptoms and management suggestions) states that certain medications can combat fatigue and lack of focus. Common ADHD medications like Vyvanse can help. You should talk with your primary care doc.

The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke by Suze Orman

Great book for focused working and learning -> Pragmatic Thinking and Learning. Geared a bit towards software developers but works for anyone.

I'm assuming this is for a company that you haven't worked for before? If so, then The First 90 Days is a good read.

https://www.amazon.ca/First-Days-Updated-Expanded-Strategies/dp/1422188612/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1541623708&sr=8-1&keywords=first+90+days+book

http://www.amazon.com/Passionate-Programmer-Remarkable-Development-Pragmatic/dp/1934356344/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422574454&sr=8-1&keywords=A+passionate+programmer&pebp=1422574452299&peasin=1934356344

Read that. Seriously. I am half way through it and it is amazing

That is truly a mind-blowing stat.

Enrico Moretti's book "The New Geography of Jobs" touches on this idea in depth, too. Cities are by definition more productive, and we either need to build more within cities, or at worst, provide better transportation links between cities - if a worker in Fresno can commute by rail to SF in an hour, they bring some of those productivity gains into less productive areas.

Read [The First 90 Days] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/1422188612/) by Watkins.

When I got my first branch manager job, I did sit and chat with every staff member (about 20 people) to get to know them.

I also asked if there was one thing they would change about the branch. I got a few good ideas that made sense and weren't hard to implement. I bought a $15 lamp for a staff area and it was if I had changed the world -- sometimes it doesn't take much to make a difference to the everyday.

Have you got the EDS-H book from Dr Tinkle?
http://www.amazon.com/Hypermobility-Handbook-Management-Ehlers-Danlos-Syndrome/dp/098257715X

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC652wu-mvi2ghwQN-is7LIQ/videos
These videos are insightful too :)

The New Geography of Jobs https://www.amazon.com/dp/0544028058/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_YkGSzbYRKY47V

The service industry, which includes doctors, lawyers, restaurants and their staff, plumbers, carpenters, nurses, electricians, DPW workers, etc. also benefit.

When I transitioned to my last job -- from higher education to corporate finance, I used The First 90 Days. I thought there were some good points, and was able to apply a lot.

https://www.amazon.com/So-You-Want-Start-Nursery/dp/0881925845

I'm currently reading this now. Pretty good info on starting a nursery.

Karen Kelsky's, The Professor is in is quite good once you realize you have to read past the rhetoric of "the sky is falling!!!" Her tone can be a little stressful if you're already feeling under pressure, but the advice she gives is really solid.

Ms. McDowell covers this and many other questions in her (famous) book http://www.amazon.com/Cracking-Tech-Career-Insider-Microsoft/dp/1118968085/ref=dp_ob_title_bk

edit: well the old one has more reviews http://www.amazon.com/Google-Resume-Prepare-Microsoft-Company/dp/0470927623/ref=sr_1_6_twi_kin_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449708818&sr=1-6&keywords=Gayle+Laakmann+McDowell
I guess her book Cracking the Coding Interview is more popular than the ones linked, but oh well. I forget exactly what she says.

Check this book out: http://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Thinking-Learning-Refactor-Programmers/dp/1934356050

Also there is a class called learning how to learn on Coursera which can be helpful.

Read this for a sense of the discipline:

https://www.mla.org/Publications/Bookstore/Nonseries/Introduction-to-Scholarship-in-Modern-Languages-and-Literatures-Third-Edition

​

Are you going to do British, American, or something else? If you're going to do American, for example, I would go through the Shorter Norton Anthology of American Lit and read anything you haven't read yet.

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-norton-anthology-of-american-literature-shorter-ninth-edition-robert-s-levine/1129775656?ean=9780393264531

​

Then I would read this for a sense of the market and job prospects:

https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Essential-Guide-Turning-Ph-D/dp/0553419420

Try reading this book 'The google resume' it might help.
http://www.amazon.com/Google-Resume-Prepare-Microsoft-Company/dp/0470927623

http://developer.7digital.com/blog/technical-academy-tour the programme we ran was 3 months and designed to get you onboard as a full-time developer. It was tough but we supported the graduates throughout the process. At lot will depend on your employer. Try and get someone to be your mentor whilst you're there. Also read http://www.amazon.com/Apprenticeship-Patterns-Guidance-Aspiring-Craftsman/dp/0596518382 before you start

Highly Recommend this

No problem. Shame you can't get physio, that's made the biggest difference for me :( to the point that I pay out of pocket and forgo other things so I can do it... might be worth going for a couple of sessions even just to get evaluated and provided with exercises you could do at home, I've done that a few times when it wasn't in the budget to go regularly.

Failing that, if you have definite diagnoses for particular MSK injuries, it's sometimes possible to find rehab protocols online. (Search phrases would be like, for e.g. "MCL rehab protocol") - that should take you to some patient handouts from insurance companies and hospitals, or the AAOS (see the "education" section) - may be helpful. Though not EDS specific, of course :/

I believe there are also a few books people have recommended on here, about self-care & exercises to help. I've seen the Muldowney Protocol referred to often, and this one too, I believe (can't personally vouch for either).

Good luck!

This is the book:

https://www.amazon.com/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-Still/dp/1491518855

Basically his main philosophy is that you shouldn’t have goals, you should just have systems that move you in the right direction. For example, you don’t set a goal to “lose 20 pounds” because every day you haven’t met that goal is demoralizing, plus, when you get there, you probably just have to set another goal that will take a while to reach.

Instead, you can create an eating system like “Cut out carbs and soda, and otherwise eat as much vegetables, fruits, nuts, meat, cheese, etc” without regard for how often you’re eating or how many calories you’re consuming, because eventually your body will adjust and you’ll naturally eat less food and start losing weight. Part of that system sound also be something simple like “get out and walk 30 minutes every day” or whatever kind of reasonable exercise you can add into your schedule without being overwhelming.

Anyway he applies this “goals not systems” approach to all aspects of his life. You wouldn’t say “my goal is to get a girlfriend” you would say “my system is to go on two dates a week” and see what happens from there, then adjust your systems as life changes.

I recently read “Deep Work” and it has a similar approach.

A very kind person recommended me this book the other day on this sub https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Essential-Guide-Turning-Ph-D/dp/0553419420

I have already learned SO much and I am barely a quarter of the way through. The woman who wrote it also has a blog that is absolutely stuffed with advice.

If you're starting a new job, check this out: http://www.amazon.com/The-First-90-Days-Strategies/dp/1422188612
100% worth the read.

Applying online usually means you will go into the HR blackhole. Not worth your time and energy.

Go buy this book and read it:

Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0: How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap Into the Hidden Job Market using Social Media and 999 other Tactics Today

http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Marketing-Job-Hunters-3-0/dp/1118019091/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346603946&sr=8-1&keywords=guerilla+marketing+for+job+hunters+3.0

Also get on LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com) and learn how to use it.

I was in your position two years ago. Im 30 now and I couldnt be more happy.

It depends on what area you would like to expertice on but I think you should start with "Pragmatic thinking and learning" https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Thinking-Learning-Refactor-Programmers/dp/1934356050

You will learn how to learn anything and how to schedule your learning. If your goal is web development I could tell you how I did It.

How to fail at almost everything and still win big (league)

Where have I heard that before?

Read How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big and focus on the system to get you there, not the goal itself.

There are drugs that can help with specific problems but not everything.
If you have the chance, I'd recommend three books for meta-learning:

• Remember Everything You Read
  
• Thinking Fast and Slow
  
• Pragmatic Thinking and Learning
  
  Failing that, you can check out Thomas Frank.

It really is all about Foonberg.

Go and purchase this book. It has everything you'll need to know for starting out.

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Languages-Weeks-Programming-Programmers/dp/193435659X?ie=UTF8&keywords=pragmatic%20programmer&qid=1464727456&ref_=sr_1_7&s=books&sr=1-7

http://www.amazon.com/Exercises-Programmers-Challenges-Develop-Coding/dp/1680501224?ie=UTF8&keywords=pragmatic%20programmer&qid=1464727456&ref_=sr_1_5&s=books&sr=1-5

http://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Thinking-Learning-Refactor-Programmers/dp/1934356050?ie=UTF8&keywords=pragmatic%20programmer&qid=1464727456&ref_=sr_1_4&s=books&sr=1-4

http://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-Journeyman-Master/dp/020161622X?ie=UTF8&keywords=pragmatic%20programmer&qid=1464727456&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1

http://www.amazon.com/Programming-Logic-Design-Comprehensive-Farrell/dp/1285776712

I would read this

https://www.amazon.com/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-Still/dp/1491518855

https://smile.amazon.com/New-Geography-Jobs-Enrico-Moretti/dp/0544028058/ref=smi_www_rco2_go_smi_4497631610?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0&ie=UTF8

It’s not so simple

Most likely this one: https://www.amazon.com/Start-Home-based-Detailing-Business-Home-Based/dp/0762778768

That depends on how you personally learn. Maybe have a read of https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pragmatic-Thinking-Learning-Refactor-Programmers/dp/1934356050/

https://www.amazon.com/First-90-Days-Strategies-Expanded/dp/1422188612

If you're just starting out, this book REALLY helped me.



http://www.amazon.com/Money-Book-Young-Fabulous-Broke/dp/1594482241/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417882348&sr=1-1&keywords=young+fabulous+and+broke

I would also read this timeless classic on the subject (you can get it used) - how to start and grow a law firm.
https://www.amazon.com/Start-Practice-Career-American-Association/dp/1590312473/ref=asc_df_1590312473/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=312186864233&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12525881901966854658&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007489&hvtargid=pla-680690022672&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=62860525100&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=312186864233&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=12525881901966854658&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9007489&hvtargid=pla-680690022672

https://www.amazon.com/First-90-Days-Strategies-Expanded/dp/1422188612

Might I suggest the following:
Two Hour Job Search by Steve Dalton.
This Video series on Personal Branding (in particular LinkedIn)

His blog post on this topic:
https://www.google.com/amp/blog.dilbert.com/post/102964992706/goals-vs-systems/amp

His book where he talks about it:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-Still/dp/1491518855

I'm in the humanities (not English). However, while in graduate school, I wish someone had told me about this book: https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Essential-Guide-Turning-Ph-D/dp/0553419420. It's not perfect and some people hate it, but it's brutally honest and helpful. If you want to avoid buying the book, you could also just check out the website: http://theprofessorisin.com/.

Here is my BASIC template - Use the following columns.
Company Alumni Motivation Posting Size applied Contacted replied Viewed Rejected

I used the 2 hour job search as a template. And then I use my gmail to organize the specific jobs applied to (as most now send an email for application). https://www.amazon.com/2-Hour-Job-Search-Technology-Faster/dp/1607741709

If you haven't bought and read [this] (http://www.amazon.com/Start-Home-based-Detailing-Business-Home-Based/dp/0762778768/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463790719&sr=1-1&keywords=renny+doyle) book yet then you're doing it all wrong IMO.

Did the ophthalmologist discuss with you the criteria for diagnosing joint hypermobility syndrome or EDS-III? Extreme myopia is actually associated with it. It sounds like people have tossed around hypermobility as possibly being related but nobody is really looking at it seriously. Is that the gist of it?

I would start reading everything you can about JHS and start implementing self-care measures, since you know you have this issue. From your past post, I think you could probably be diagnosed with it if you saw someone who was familiar with hypermobility as a pain disorder. Treating yourself as if you have it should not make things worse if the problem is actually rheumatoid arthritis.

Some resources I have found helpful:

[The Pocinki Paper] (http://www.dynakids.org/Documents/hypermobility.pdf)

The Hypermobility Handbook

These are the only two resources I can really suggest because there is so much conflicting information out there on JHS, I only feel comfortable linking to stuff written by actual physicians. But there are a lot of blogs and so forth that have stretches and pain relief techniques you can try.

I'm on the job market now. I will recommend a book that will answer your question. This book will give you an accurate state of the academic job market as it exists today. This book is dead on accurate.

https://www.amazon.com/Professor-Essential-Guide-Turning-Ph-D/dp/0553419420

(I have no affiliation with the author)

If anybody wants to read about this topic in more detail and more learning (instead of performance) oriented, try this book: https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Thinking-Learning-Refactor-Programmers/dp/1934356050

Hell, there's even a life-book that focuses on the two selves: https://www.amazon.com/Untitled-Mark-Manson/dp/0062888439

>But what people don't know is with every manufacturing job that disappeared, 1.6 service jobs also disappeared - waiter and barista for example

>#1.6 service jobs also disappeared

It's already been happening dingus, for a long time. And do you really think that the workers at McDonalds would be demanding $15/hr minimum wage if it was full of teens/college students like it was in the 1980s-early 1990s when there were decent manufacturing jobs?

No.

Because all of those decent paying manufacturing jobs have been eliminated, every eliminated manufacturing job has also taken 1.6 service jobs. Those people have not gone anywhere - all of the unemployed manufacturing positions are taking these service jobs and demanding the old 1980s-early 1990s manufacturing living wages. There are less service jobs because there are less manufacturing jobs but all manufacturing sector unemployed are competing for the less prevalent service jobs.

It's basic economics guy. If you are only a high school grad in 2000s America you are fucked career wise in most cases.

READ THIS BOOK FROM YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY

A lot of people think we are all divided by red and blue ideologies but we are even more divided by blue collar, white collar, and gray collar.

Advice (note: IANAD):

• St. John's Wort 3 X / Day (assuming you're not already on SSRIs or something).
  
  
• Get your T level checked (assuming you have some sort of insurance or access to a doctor). If it's low, start getting the shots.
  
  
• Lift.
  
  
• Get a job. Yeah, the economy sucks, but there's always something available. Mow lawns. Wash cars. Whatever. Preferably something physical and relatively mindless (so ideally you can listen to books on tape while you work).
  
  
• If your current surroundings/environment are a net negative in your life, move if possible. It's easier to "start fresh" if you're in a new location.
  
  
• Lie about being a virgin when the subject comes up IRL (to both men and women).
  
  
• Lose your virginity ASAP. This first sexual act will likely be something of an awkward debacle. Expect that. Just remember that you'll only improve with experience. Find a fat pig on a dating website or pay a whore if necessary. Your status as a virgin will continue to be a mental roadblock to your personal advancement until it is removed. So, remove it.
  
  Required reading list -
  
  https://www.amazon.com/How-Fail-Almost-Everything-Still/dp/1491518855
  
  https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467441671&sr=1-1&keywords=how+to+win+friends+and+influence+people
  
  https://www.amazon.com/Trump-Art-Deal-Donald-J-ebook/dp/B000SEGE6M/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1467441700&sr=1-1#navbar
  
  Do it do it do it.