I'm always late to the party, but here's my review of Michael Lopp's 2010 book Being Geek.

A supposed career handbook, with little relevance to my career. The author has worked at large corporations (including Netscape) and small startups, but his idea of a small startup is 80 employees. In recent years, that's my idea of a large company. He also assumes a kind of corporate culture that I hope is obsolete: The kind where you have a week to prepare for the Big Meeting, the kind where you live and die by PowerPoint. In my career, I never see slides.

Lopp advises the reader on job-searching, but it's a style of search which I consider an illusion: You respond to a job listing with a resume carefully tweaked for the position, pass a phone screen, and interview on site for half a day. When I left college I, too, thought this was how people applied for jobs, but in my experience it's a sign of desperation if you resort to such measures. If you want to apply to a dozen companies and get nowhere, submit your resume. If you want to work, email your friends. Lopp's advice might apply to those fresh out of college, with no contacts, looking for long-term employment in giant corporations. I've never been such a person, and I never meet them either. If you're freelancing, or working for a startup, then reading this book is useful not for its specific advice, but simply as an opportunity to spend a few hours considering your own situation. It's nothing like his, but in considering the distinction you may clarify your status and your goals.