Apprenticeship Patterns - Guidance for the Aspiring Software Craftsman

During ObtivaCon, I had a twitter conversation with Dave Hoover, the Chief Craftsman at Obtiva about marinating a focus on quality and continuous improvement in hostile/dysfunctional environments (not trying to say anything about my current or past places of employment ;). He recommended the book Apprenticeship Patterns, or should I say he pointed out that this topic is covered in his book.

So, I picked it up and am glad I did. Finished reading it last night and intend to revisit it in 6 months. There is not a single line of code in the book. It is all about the journey of software development as a career path that doesn’t lead into management.

The content is presented as advice to a newcomer to the craft of software development and attempts to establish a pattern language for hard won lessons. The content is strongly influenced by the Software Craftsmanship movement and makes heavy reference to Pete McBreen’s Software Craftsmanship: The New Imperative.

If you are interested in checking it out the entire book has been made available online by O’Reilly.